The Landau

There was a landau deep and wide,
Cushioned for Sleep’s own self to sit on—
The glory of the country-side
From Tanner’s End to Marlow Ditton.
John of the broad and brandied cheek
(Well I recall its eau-de-vie hues! )
Drove staid Sir Ralph five days a week
At speeds which we considered Jehu’s….

But now’ poor John sleeps very sound,
And neither hears nor smells the fuss
Of the young Squire’s nine-hundred-pound—
Er-Mors communis omnibus.
And I who in my daily stroll
Observe the reckless chauffeur crowd her,
Laudator temporis, extol
The times before the Act allowed her.