Classic Poem

Colleague Bedier, if in those times unvexed
In learned Paris at thy Table Round
I so had botched a dusty Old French text,
As thou this bloodsprent German (lately found);
If I had so mismetred, so misread,
Had so omitted (negligent — or sly!),
And in my gloss so misinterpreted,
To prove my thesis excellent thereby;
O then how had thy lean and nervous lips
Sputtered the anger of thy scholar-face!
Thy flashing eyes, thy beating finger-tips,
How had they shown me then the pupil's place!
And all the seminaire had laughed at me,
Colleague Bedier, as Time will laugh at thee.