Autograph manuscript, signed "W. H. Auden," two pages, 8 x 13, no date but circa 1935. A handwritten poem comprised of six five-line stanzas of his poem “In the Square” (later republished as the first part of his Twelve Songs, 'Song of the Beggars'). In full:
"O for doors to be opened and an invite with gilded edges
To dine with Lord Lobcock and Count Asthma on the platinum benches
With the somersaults and fireworks, the roast and the smacking kisses
Cried the six cripples to the silent statue
The six beggared cripples.
And Garbo's and Cleopatra's wits to go astraying
In a feather ocean with me to go fishing and playing,
Still jolly when the cock has burst himself with crowing
Cried the six cripples to the silent statue
The six beggared cripples.
And to stand on green turf among the craning yellow faces
Dependent on the chestnut, the sable, and Arabian horses
And me with a magic crystal to foresee their places
Cried the six cripples to the silent statue
The six beggared cripples.
This square to be a deck, then and these pigeons sails to rig
And to follow the delicious breeze like a tantony pig
To the shaded feverless islands where the melons are big
Cried the six cripples to the silent statue
The six beggared cripples.
And these shops to be turned to tulips in a garden bed
And me with my a my stick to thrash each merchant dead
As he pokes from a flower his bald and wicked head
Cried the six cripples to the silent statue
The six beggared cripples.
A hole in the bottom of heaven, and Peter and Paul
And each smug surprised saint like parachutes to fall
And every one-legged beggar to have no legs at all
Cried the six cripples to the silent statue
The six beggared cripples."
In very good to fine condition, with foxing and staining, heavier to the first page. This manuscript was first published in the May 31, 1935 issue of The Spectator. Auden later published the poem, with several minor revisions from the present manuscript, as 'Song of the Beggars,' Part I of his Twelve Songs.
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