The Last Proof

AN EPILOGUE TO ANY BOOK     "Hic Finis chartaeque viaeque."     "FINIS at last--the end, the End, the END!     No more of paragraphs to prune or mend;     No more blue pencil, with its ruthless line,     To blot the phrase 'particularly fine';     No more of 'slips,' and 'galleys,' and 'revises,'     Of words 'transmogrified,' and 'wild surmises';     No more of n's that masquerade as u's,     No nice perplexities of p's and q's;     No more mishaps of ante and of post,     That most mislead when they should help the most;     No more of 'friend' as 'fiend,' and 'warm' as 'worm';     No more negations where we would affirm;     No more of those mysterious freaks of fate     That make us bless when we should execrate;     No more of those last blunders that remain     Where we no more can set them right again;     No more apologies for doubtful data;     No more fresh facts that figure as Errata;     No more, in short, O TYPE, of wayward lore     From thy most un-Pierian fount--NO MORE!"     So spoke PAPYRIUS. Yet his hand meanwhile     Went vaguely seeking for the vacant file,     Late stored with long array of notes, but now     Bare-wired and barren as a leafless bough;--     And even as he spoke, his mind began     Again to scheme, to purpose and to plan.     There is no end to Labour 'neath the sun;     There is no end of labouring--but One;     And though we "twitch (or not) our Mantle blue,"     "To-morrow to fresh Woods, and Pastures new."