Five geese deploy mysteriously.

Onward proudly with flagstaffs,

Hearses with silver bugles,

Bushels of plum-blossoms dropping

For ten mystic web-feet—

Each his own drum-major,

Each charged with the honor

Of the ancient goose nation,

Each with a nose-length surpassing

The nose-lengths of rival nations.

Somberly, slowly, unimpeachably,

Five geese deploy mysteriously.