97 
 
 
 
 
 
SPORT AND MARRIAGE 
 
HOW dream from facts of nature swerves !   
 
As I was shooting my preserves 
I would not have believed, I swear, 
How very tame the pheasants were. 
My spaniel to a setter blushed ;   
The bird would simply not be flushed. 
I beat one with a stick quite hard ;   
He only fluttered half a yard, 
Scolding me :  “ Idiot and brute, 
Why in the devil don’t you shoot ? ” 
I turned upon my heel ;  the bird 
Followed me home—it sounds absurd !   
[My fault !  for getting the grand slam on 
Chateau Yquem and cold boiled salmon !] 
At last in anger, not for fun, 
I lifted my reluctant gun, 
Gave him both barrels, plain and choke, 
And blew him into bits.  I woke. 
  . 
. 
. 
. 
. 
. 
—How dreams reflect the facts of life !   
I was in bed with my own wife.