Excelsior

From Gene Bergmann

Gang, Regarding the blurry internet reproduction of the Edward Lear
autograph version of Longfellow's "Excelsior," I requested and received the
poem as follows:
 

(Parody of Excelsior by Edward Lear, undated)

The shades of night were falling fast
As through a Hampshire village passed
A Pig who bore through snow and ice
A banner with the strange device
                Excelsior

His brow was sad his eye beneath
Was hid by fat within its sheath
Like Mr Irving¹s unknown tongue
A strange fat voice around him sung
                Excelsior!

In happy home, he sees the light
Of kitchen fires gleam warm and bright
Like roasted crackling the glaciers shine
He sights and thinks, that fate is mine
                Excelsior!

Try not to pass, the old man said
You¹ll sell like bricks when you are dead
There¹s great demand for bacon here
And you¹ll go down unkommon with our beer
                Excelsior!

"Oh stay" the maiden cried "and rest
Pork is the meat which I love best"
He answered, winking his blue eye
Pork makes gals bilious, then they die
                Excelsior!

"Beware the pinetree¹s withered branch
Beware oakfaggot¹s shivered craunch"
This was the peasant¹s last goodnight
"We sweels* our pigs before daylight"
                Excelsior!

At break of day I had a dream
Methought I heard an awful scream
And a great pig with a claw like ice
Showed to the world this strange device
                Excelsior!

There in the twilight, cold and grey
Lifeless but beautiful he lay
And solemn voices seem to say
Fresh pork and sausages today
                Excelsior

*Hampshire for singeing hogs
 

The reference in the second verse to "Mr. Irving's unknown tongue" is
possibly a reference to the phenomenon of glossolalia or "speaking in
tongues".  This was a feature of the religion of Edward Irving (1792-1834),
a dissenter from the English Presbyterian church, who founded a movement
known as Irvingism, later the Catholic Apostolic Church.  Irving used that
exact term - "unknown tongue" - to describe the phenomenon.

Regards,

Gerard Hayes
Australian Manuscripts Collection
State Library of Victoria
phone 03 8664 7007