Nicholas's Kingdom of Love

Nicholas quietly lived in the kingdom of foolishness, you can see,
First he went to the sea, then he went peacefully to town and where thus he
Found himself in a bazaar which had eighty-one droves with it droves of love,
Buzzing and pulsing and twinkling was the crowd, nothing came from above,

And then suddenly the large ballistæ
Came thund'ring out the back of the ware-house,
The crash resounded swiftly in their ears,
'Twixt cannon-ball and fire through the night,
He cried out in alar'm when strik'd was he,
Such that angels cried tears that fell to Earth,
And formed a pool of salve that so pure was,
That Nikolas wash'd in and strong return'd.

So Nicholas, through thoroughfare,
A battle red, and dying men,
Shot once again, the putrid air,
Lay paralysed, and in the fen.