Fame is a fickle food 1
Upon a shifting plate
Whose table once a
Guest but not
The second time is set.
Whose crumbs the crows inspect 6
And with ironic caw
Flap past it to the
Farmer's Corn－
Men eat of it and die.
Upon a shifting plate
Whose table once a
Guest but not
The second time is set.
Whose crumbs the crows inspect 6
And with ironic caw
Flap past it to the
Farmer's Corn－
Men eat of it and die.
(F.1702/J.1659)
[1] Fame:: a common talk without content. food:: a book; an article on newspaper or magazine.
[2] plate:: printing plate.
[3] table:: a list, catalog.
[4, 5] not the second time:: rejected by editors or readers.
[6] crows:: people who boast, cry aloud.
[8] Flap:: to tear a page in a sudden.
[9] Corn:: corn bread, to be wrapped by the page.
[10] eat, die:: men eat the bread and discard the wrapper.