Shapes of Clay

As time rolled on the whole world came to be

A desolation and a darksome curse;

And some one said: "The changes that you see

In the fair frame of things, from bad to worse,

Are wrought by strikes. The sun withdrew his glimmer

Because the moon assisted with her shimmer.

"Then, when poor Luna, straining very hard,

Doubled her light to serve a darkling world,

He called her 'scab,' and meanly would retard

Her rising: and at last the villain hurled

A heavy beam which knocked her o'er the Lion

Into the nebula of great O'Ryan.

"The planets all had struck some time before,

Demanding what they said were equal rights:

Some pointing out that others had far more

That a fair dividend of satellites.

So all went out—though those the best provided,

If they had dared, would rather have abided.

"The stars struck too—I think it was because

The comets had more liberty than they,

And were not bound by any hampering laws,

While they were fixed; and there are those who say

The comets' tresses nettled poor Altair,

An aged orb that hasn't any hair.

"The earth's the only one that isn't in

The movement—I suppose because she's watched

With horror and disgust how her fair skin

Her pranking parasites have fouled and blotched

With blood and grease in every labor riot,

When seeing any purse or throat to fly at."