Mr. Ezra Pound, the American troubadour

Edmund George Valpy Knox, Parodies regained, Londres, Methuen, 1921, p. 89-90.

The Rovers

(Mr. Ezra Pound, the American troubadour, has an unexpected meeting with Mr. W. D. Davies, the English tramp poet, whose simple rustic muse is so justly admired)

Mr. W. H. D. (hopefully).Hear how my friend the jongleur sings !

I too have suffered many things ;

At Oxford Circus I have known

What townmen call the « stentorphone, »

Most like a hive wherein are bees

Which told me to «  Keep moving, please, »

And made me from my skin to leap

Higher than lambs do round calm sheep.

When I reflect on caddis-worms——–

Mr. E. P. (not to be denied and overbearing him).

Hung hard, to high straps,where hot the air is,

There I heard nought save «  Whew, whew ! » and «  Ow dear ! »

« Golly ! » « Sardines ! » « Get out at Victoria ! »

Rotten romances were for my reading

Bought at the bookstalls (none were Ballate)

Seen over shoulders as sadly I swayed there,

Scent of some bad kind abundantly breathing ;

Bits of tabacco and match-heads bestrewed me ;

Flecked was my collar ; full often some Bolshevist

Blew smoke about me.