C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Author Unknown
St. Anthonys Sermon to the Fishes
S
Was left in the lurch,
So he went to the ditches
And preached to the fishes;
They wriggled their tails,
In the sun glanced their scales.
Are all hither drawn;
Have opened their jaws,
Eager for each clause.
No sermon beside
Had the carps so edified.
Who keep fighting like tikes,
Now swam up harmonious
To hear St. Antonius.
No sermon beside
Had the pikes so edified.
Who loves fast-days, the cod-fish,—
The stock-fish, I mean,—
At the sermon was seen.
No sermon beside
Had the cods so edified.
Which aldermen gorge on,
Went out of their way
To hear preaching that day.
No sermon beside
Had the eels so edified.
Who always move slow,
Made haste from the bottom,
As if the Devil had got ’em.
No sermon beside
Had the crabs so edified.
Lords, lackeys, and all,
Each looked at the preacher
Like a reasonable creature:
At God’s word,
They Anthony heard.
Each turned and descended;
The pikes went on stealing,
The eels went on eeling:
Much delighted were they,
But preferred the old way.
The stock-fish thick-siders,
The carps are sharp-set;
All the sermon forget:
Much delighted were they,
But preferred the old way.