John Crowe Ransom

“Piazza Piece—I am a gentleman in a dustcoat tryingTo make you hear. Your ears are soft and smallAnd listen to an old man not at all,They want the young men's whispering and sighing.But see the roses on your trellis dyingAnd hear the spectral singing of the moon;For I must have my lovely lady soon,I am a gentleman in a dustcoat trying.—I am a lady young in beauty waitingUntil my truelove comes, and then we kiss.But what gray man among the vines is thisWhose words are dry and faint as in a dream?Back from my trellis, Sir, before I scream!I am a lady young in beauty waiting.”

“Tell this to ladies: how a hero manAssail a thick and scandalous giantWho casts true shadow in the sun,And die, but play no truant.This is more horrible: that the darling eggOf the chosen people hatch a creatureOf noblest mind and powerful legWho cannot fathom nor perform his nature.”