Chapter V

There are some words, that in a double sense Must be interpreted; of these am I. Your housemaid, thus, wilt know me literally Better than you do; but, with all respect For Betty's carefulness, she scarce can catch My finer meaning. I'm, with her, a thing For brush and duster; in me, you behold A symbol. So much for me as I stand. Now cut my head off--I'm another word Of narrow and of wide significance, Handful of dust, the very world itself. Cut off my tail--the effect is still the same; I'm yet another of those duplex words: Mental and bodily, an essential part Of all mankind, without which no one lives, Nay, not an animal, though you may swear, And truly too, that I have no existence, And never had, in certain men and women. Enough: it is not difficult to find Three words, six meanings, in one syllable.