On Religion

With talk of God you pass the time
As children write on a frosty window—
We enter the abyss like Absalom
Hanging between the Yes and No.

On a University Critic

Urbanus fears I'm lunatic
Through women, grog and Popery.
Teetotal, celibate, agnostic,
Urbanus cultivates his barren fig tree.

On Equality

Eating pig-nuts on all fours
In the great funfair none do well.
Tom likes boys, and Bob likes whores,
Yet both may share a bunk in Hell.

The Consolations of Music

My toe-nails itch; the days are hot and dry;
Earth trundles like a rusty Ferris wheel.
I shut the windows tight and play on my
Hydrodaktylopsychicharmonicaglasspiel.^*

—James K. Baxter.