FORTY-TWO

A Riddle

More numerous subjects has my first,

Than any mortal king can boast,

And yet for more he’s still athirst

Till all the world compose his host.

My second, made with wondrous skill

Measures every live long day,

He bears a face and two thin hands,

That chase but never catch its prey.

When fear with superstition’s joined

My fancied whole my first foretells,

And thus the enfeebled sick man’s mind

To dread it constantly impels.