Oh, HERBERT, this is splendid!

As one whose wisdom overflows
With human nature's lore,
You know they make the keenest foes
Who have been friends before;
We loved as only Liberals do
Until their rival sabres rattle
And Greek joins Greek (like me and you)--
Then is the tug of battle.

As an old Parliamentary hand
Familiar with the ropes,
Those perils you will understand
With which a Premier copes
Whose big battalions run to seed,
Having indulged a taste for slacking,
And let their muscles moult for need
Of foemen worth the whacking.

Such was my case. By habit's use
They still obeyed the whip,
But loyal zeal grew limp and loose
And things were left to rip;
I had no hope to stay the rot
And fortify their old affections
(Save for the stimulus they got
From losing by-elections).

Daily I took, to keep me fit,