Lakehead University - Yearbook (Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada)

Page 32 text:

JMacLetti 4t J (c ansen s Sir Francis Bacon ' Is this a pool cue which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal weapon, straight To hit as I shoot? or art thou but A cue of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the smoke-oppressed brain? I see thee yet, plain as day, as palpable As this which now I have Thou hit ' st the ball I was shooting; And such an instrument I was to use. Mine eyes saw a red ball drop in the left corner pocket, Or was it a white one; I see thee still. And on thy tip bits of powder blue, Which was not so before. There ' s no such thing; It is the bloody white ball which fell Thus to mine eyes. Now o ' er the one half table The balls seem dead, and wicked dreams abuse My brilliant play; now witchcraft celebrates His pale offerings, and wither ' d handshake, Alarum ' d by his sentinel, the snear He broke his cue on the table, and Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and smoke- filled room, Hear not my steps, which way they walk for fear Thy very stones prate my whereabout, And take his money back from me Which now jingles pleasantly. Whiles I shoot, he stands Words to the best shots he says little. 30