Algy Reads a Book of Verse
Algy was in need of a wee rest after his recent exertions, so he settled down quietly in the garden with a book of verse.
Very few poets are called Algernon, so he thought that Mr. Swinburne’s verse would surely suit. In the event, however, it turned out to be not quite as he had expected. He turned the pages rather hurriedly, hoping that no-one was watching. Here and there, he found a passage that he liked…
Make us too music, to be with us
As a word from a world’s heart warm,
To sail the dark as a sea with us,
Full-sailed, outsinging the storm
[Algy quotes part of the poem To Walt Whitman in America, from the book of verse Songs Before Sunrise by Algernon Charles Swinburne, published in 1871. For those with more stamina than Algy, this complete book of verse is available to read online or download from Project Gutenberg.]
