The Ohio has confined us
To a verse-age not in time
And nothing’s more superfluous
Than a raft that cannot rhyme!
Leeward poets pitch and throw
Their syllables to see
If the critics bid them go
To find themselves a quay.
History and philosophy
Congeal to save a liver;
Appended to psychology
They redeem its fire giver.
A soothsayer with oar in hand
Has truth to fill a scow
And aphorisms to command
To show its sailors how
To bid the river rats on land
To exorcise the river.
Then tell they may their sons and daughters:
‘Tis safe to rhyme upon the waters.’