Dean Swift and the Catheter
 

Death mask of Jonathan Swift

That much at least he was spared,
Whether or not it is true
That his hussy housekeeper dared
To show him, crazed, to the view
 
Of the Dublin rabble and rout:
The experts doubt this now,
Just as they’ve voted to doubt
Dryden’s great funeral row,
 
Or what Ben Jonson said
Of Spenser, that prince of verse:
That he perished for want of bread
One mile from the royal purse.
 
Swift, anyway, although
Dr. J might aver
That he died a driveller, on show,
Avoided the catheter,
 
Which, given his lifelong take
On the human bowels and bladder,
Could hardly have failed to make
His end still darker and sadder;
 
Yet even without, he spoke                                                  
Thoughts no one doubts were his own,
When he heard his birthday cheered by the folk:
They had better leave it alone.

Julia Griffin
 
If you have any thoughts about this poem, Julia Griffin would be pleased to hear them