ELEGY

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23349, 7 June 1941, Page 8

ELEGY

‘[By- WHIM-WHAM] He seemed enormous twenty Years ago, In Obloquy he had no Parallel; He wore the Devil’s own Moustache, and Some Were sure he wore the Horns and Tail as well. With all the Tricks of the imperial Trade, With Eagles, rielmets, Horses, and such Stuff, He boasted, threatened, capered, postured, till History grew tired of it and called his Bluff. Just like a Demon in a Pantomime, He dived into the Wings and disappeared— That is to say, he crossed the Frontier,. Began the Simple Life, and grew a Beard. “Let’s hang the Kaiser!” was the common Cry; But Nemesis had got him long before; And though the Rope, no doubt, was ready noosed, There wasn’t any Kaiser any more! And now old -Bones are laid to Rest at Doom, Their Days of Pride and Posturing long past: He who struck empty Attitudes now strikes Death’s too convincing’ Attitude at last. While Hitler grants him military Honours (How Fate her Fools with Irony pursues!), Hitler, whom .Kaiser Wilhelm would have thought Unfit to black his Hohenzollern Shoes!