Lay of Kushta, Sonnet 42

Scum! Said Abner from beside the Throne. Guess what would Mother

Say we had done. They stood together on jade Temple stair

And look’d on at the mess of the city below. Fires were

Burning on heaps of trash, and drunken mobs chas’d one another.

Sour violence and raw turmoil mars Argora the fair.

O Jamal, said Ysolde, this is our home. Tears shone on her

Cheeks, but she did not wail. She said, What must be done, fellows

To restore peace to the Emperor’s capital? And none

There thought it odd that Ysolde would ask as a full equal.

Hire half to arrest the other half, said Bob. His mellow

Wit was met with a deep silence, since almost everyone

Thought it was the best idea since receiving the eagle.

So that is in fact what they did, though it was very hard,

Bob’s bad joke became the start of the Imperial Guard.