TO ONE DETESTED

Sir, you're a veteran, revealed In history and fable As warrior since you took the field, Defeating Abel. As Commissary later (or If not, in every cottage The tale is) you contracted for A mess of pottage. In civil life you were, we read (And our respect increases) A man of peace—a man, indeed, Of thirty pieces. To paying taxes when you turned Your mind, or what you call so, A wide celebrity you earned— Saphira also. In every age, by various names, You've won renown in story, But on your present record flames A greater glory. Cain, Esau, and Iscariot, too, And Ananias, likewise, Each had peculiar powers, but who Could lie as Mike lies?