Struck Ile

1 
W—stl—nd, the bank–note man,
      Holding the Treasury keys,
Promised to 'pay the bearer' 
      Eighty crores  of rupees,
And C—lv—n was caught up to Allahabad
            –Valhallahabad of L.G.'s.
2 
W—stl—nd, the bank–note man,
      Proved in a lucid way
Nobody ought to be wrath if 
      Government couldn't pay;
And C—lv—n leaned from the bar of Heaven 
            and cheered him on to the fray.
3 
W—stl—nd, the bank–note man,
       Served up the usual hash,
Added a grain of salt, and
      Drew pro-notes for the cash;
Devastating the P——r 
            with seven columns of trash.
    4 
.   A scrape from the golah's mouth-
          A tea cupful of the brine—
    A crutch and a stay  and we pull through the day,
          And blunder along the line,
    While Krishna W—stl—nd tootles his flute 
                to C—lv—n's starveling kine.
5 
W—stl—nd, the bank–note man,
      Trusting to Time and Chance,
Tinkered the leak with a kerosine-can
      In the name of paraffinance;
And C—lv—n lighted a hurricane lamp
            to shine on the dreary dance.
    6 
.   Knaust where we lack the nous— 
           Thora mutti–ki–tel—
    A pinch and a shift and away we drift
      With a dying wind in the sail;
    But what shall we do when the cruize is run 
            and the last, least catspaws fail?
7 
Here is a study in oils—
       Naught in the world could be fairer
W—stl—nd making his Bearer pay,
      Instead of  'paying the bearer',
And an Empire starting a bunnia's shop,  
            as the pice grow rarer and rarer.

Choose another poem