Ezra Pound - The Lake Isle

O God, O Venus, O Mercury, patron of thieves,
Give me in due time, I beseech¹ you, a little tobacco-shop,
With the little bright boxes
piled up neatly² upon the shelves
And the loose fragment cavendish
and the shag,
And the bright Virginia
loose under the bright glass cases,
And a pair of scales
not too greasy³,
And the votailles dropping in for a word or two in passing,
For a flip⁴ word, and to tidy their hair a bit.

O God, O Venus, O Mercury, patron of thieves,
Lend me a little tobacco-shop,
or install me in any profession
Save this damn'd profession of writing,
where one needs one's brains all the time.