Two Socialists + 

Brand Whitlock sped from Hell through space, + 

To be remanded never⁠— + 

For having such a saintly face, + 

Set free forever, + 

With due apology. He came + 

To a world so base and bestial + 

No tongue infernal spake its name⁠— + 

No tongue celestial. + 

So foul it was that even He + 

Had cast it off Who made it: + 

Adrift in space, as on a sea, + 

No mooring stayed it. + 

That orb unclean, denied the aid + 

Of gravitation’s tether, + 

For centuries had blindly strayed⁠— + 

Lost altogether! + 

The sun disdainfully declined + 

To light the villain planet, + 

And the whole universe combined + 

To curse and ban it. + 

The Thief Impenitent, his grim + 

Recusance unabated, + 

Was its sole occupant: for him + 

It was created. + 

For when the wretch was newly dead + 

’Twas thought Hell had not ample + 

Restraints to check the local spread + 

Of his example, + 

Nor apparatus that insured + 

A proper pang; though lately + 

The woes that he at first endured + 

Had softened greatly. + 

But still one fierce, vain longing he + 

Suffered, nor could o’ercome it⁠— + 

The wish to sit in reverie + 

On Calvary’s summit. + 

Beneath that orb’s unjoyous sky + 

Brand Whitlock found the sinner. + 

Affinity!⁠—the outer eye + 

Lit by the inner. + 

Said Whitlock: “Here my stay is brief; + 

Take, brother, ere we sever, + 

Thy pardon. Be a better thief + 

Henceforth forever. + 

“God gives me power to condone + 

All scalawags’ offending, + 

For the sweet faith that I have shown + 

In their amending.” + 

When so he’d said with solemn grace, + 

As was that good soul’s habit, + 

The Thief directly into space + 

Sprang like a rabbit! + 

(He might have left at any time + 

Had freedom been his passion, + 

For God had long forgot his crime. + 

Crime was the fashion.) + 

The Saint, resuming soon his flight, + 

Met him through chaos floating. + 

Three stolen post-holes that poor wight + 

Was gaily toting. + 