IF Venus in the evening sky Is seen in radiant majesty, If rod-like comets, red as blood, Are 'mongst the constellations view'd, Out springs the Ignoramus, yelling:
"The star's exactly o'er my dwelling!
What woeful prospect, ah, for me!
Then calls his neighbour mournfully:
"Behold that awful sign of evil, Portending woe to me, poor devil!
My mother's asthma ne'er will leave her, My child is sick with wind and fever;I dread the illness of my wife, A week has pass'd, devoid of strife,--And other things have reach'd my ear;
The Judgment Day has come, I fear!"
His neighbour answered: "Friend, you're right!
Matters look very had to-night.
Let's go a street or two, though, hence, And gaze upon the stars from thence."--No change appears in either case.
Let each remain then in his place, And wisely do the best he can, Patient as any other man.
1821.*
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