THE WILES OF GREECE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11596, 14 January 1916, Page 7

THE WILES OF GREECE.

(A Byronical Parody.) The wiles of Greece, the wiles of Greece I Greece, for whose freedom England fought, And gained from tyrant Turks release, Alas! that she's been sold and bought: • Eternal shame, 0 Greece, is thine. Thanks to thy treacherous Constantino! The mountains look on Marathon, And Marathon looks on the sea, And .Vsaizelos .there alone Sighs for his country's treachery: " Safety is ours, but at what cost? To gain a pace our soul is lost!" A king sat on the rocky brow Whioh looks o'er sea-born Salamis, And main" ships lay there below, And many armed men, I wis. " For show these be, and not for strife, Thanks to my dear and German wife V

Doth Greece not weep for broken vows, And "scraps of paper" burnt or lorn? Can naught her probity arouse? Can she not feel the world's deep .scorn? Thinks she to 'scape the noisome scath "Winchpoisons nations breaking faith? AYeeps ne'er a Greek o'er Serbia's wrongs? Doth he not blush at perfidy? Oh. future bards, in scurvy songs, Shall tneer at Greece's infamy: Choosing to live in shameful ease, Ruled by the Huns' Polycrates! Greece hath -the Pyrrhic d'ance as yet, Where is the Pyrrhic valour gone? Of two such lessons, why forget The nobler and the manlier one? She hath tbfc letters Cadmus gave, And yet her king's the Kaiser's slave! To end this lay Byronical And pull my Pegasus up quick: It seems to'me that Greece's fall From honour is a dirty trick. And decent people now should cease From suffering the wiles of Greece! —Beziofue.