The Soul's Quest and Other Poems

by Frederick George Scott

 

AT MADAME TUSSAUD'S

 
I STOOD in that strange show, the other day,
    On Baker Street, where all the famous men,
    Fair dames, and murderers come to life again,
With clockwork breast and face of mimic clay,
To scare the young. Thrice in the long display,
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    Blundering, I thought wax flesh, then, with surprise
    At being deceived, I turned with cautious eyes
And took for wax all those that thronged my way.

So in this age, methinks, when in the light
    Of fuller knowledge, forms that men have reared
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        And worshipped turn to dust, too hasty youths,
Shunning the whirlpool jaws of credulous sight,
    Rush towards a Scylla far more to be feared,
        And take for shadows all too living truths.

1885.