(A contemporary remarked recently how many names of famous men have ended in "on.")
Call no man famous till you know his end.
"On" is the most effective. Docked of "on,"
Who's Milt? or Nels? or Newt? "On" nerves Anon
To blush unseen in public. Say, who penn'd
Don Juan? Was it Byr? Could Burt befriend
The humpstruck? So curtailed and put upon,
Would Caxt or Paxt, would Lipt, would Winst have shone?
No, they would not. Their "on"'s what we commend.
And what though "on" too lavishly impart
The gift of greatness ("Chestert," murmur some,
"Were ample; not to mention A. C. Bens")?
We're spared—remember this in "on's" defence—
A Shawon ranting from a super-cart,
A Caineon skilled to beat the outsize drum.
*** Transcriber's Note: Typo "month" replaced with "mouth" in the fourth stanza of PER ASPARAGOS AD ASTRA. ***
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