The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke

Wagner

   Creeps in half wanton, half asleep,
    One with a fat wide hairless face.
   He likes love-music that is cheap;
    Likes women in a crowded place;
     And wants to hear the noise they're making.

   His heavy eyelids droop half-over,
    Great pouches swing beneath his eyes.
   He listens, thinks himself the lover,
    Heaves from his stomach wheezy sighs;
     He likes to feel his heart's a-breaking.

   The music swells.  His gross legs quiver.
    His little lips are bright with slime.
   The music swells.  The women shiver.
    And all the while, in perfect time,
     His pendulous stomach hangs a-shaking.