The Friends of His Youth + 

Laughter not time destroyed my voice + 

And put that crack in it, + 

And when the moon’s pot-bellied + 

I get a laughing fit, + 

For that old Madge comes down the lane + 

A stone upon her breast, + 

And a cloak wrapped about the stone, + 

And she can get no rest + 

With singing hush and hush-a-bye; + 

She that has been wild + 

And barren as a breaking wave + 

Thinks that the stone’s a child. + 

And Peter that had great affairs + 

And was a pushing man + 

Shrieks, “I am King of the Peacocks,” + 

And perches on a stone; + 

And then I laugh till tears run down + 

And the heart thumps at my side, + 

Remembering that her shriek was love + 

And that he shrieks from pride. + 