The Spoonbill Generator

Futility is much admired, by those outside this burgh,       [Apsley ]

By those whom latent enmity corrodes       [olaf ]

And yet, to tell the meanest truth, no single little erg       [Apsley ]

Betrays the native lassitude of toads       [olaf ]

Or so says Jim       [Chevalier ]

For Jim despairs of all the good that shines athwart each day,       [Apsley ]

On those whom blatant hebetude condemns       [olaf ]

And yet, to give the man his due, had his desires held sway       [Chevalier ]

There would have been no dresses on our hems       [olaf ]

Or thus thinks Tom       [Apsley ]

But Tom's a man whose intellect could not outwit a brick       [Chevalier ]

For those with whom I greatly sweep the street       [Apsley ]

Whose slow imaginations tick       [olaf ]

And nuzzle 'gainst our feet       [Apsley ]

Or so says Jim       [(trad) ]

Jim and Tom, those worthy beaux,       [Apsley ]

Neither follows the other's nose       [olaf ]

Except in search of odiose       [Apsley ]

Adjuncts to their pose       [olaf ]