IA shaded lamp and a waving blind, And the beat of a clock from a distant floor:
On this scene enter--winged, horned, and spined -A longlegs, a moth, and a dumbledore;While 'mid my page there idly stands A sleepy fly, that rubs its hands . . .
II
Thus meet we five, in this still place, At this point of time, at this point in space.
- My guests parade my new-penned ink, Or bang at the lamp-glass, whirl, and sink.
"God's humblest, they!" I muse. Yet why?
They know Earth-secrets that know not I.
MAX GATE, 1899.
