To One Detested

Sir, you're a veteran, revealed
  In history and fable
As warrior since you took the field,
    Defeating Abel.
As Commissary later (or
  If not, in every cottage
The tale is) you contracted for
    A mess of pottage.



In civil life you were, we read
  (And our respect increases)
A man of peace--a man, indeed,
    Of thirty pieces.
To paying taxes when you turned
  Your mind, or what you call so,
A wide celebrity you earned--
    Saphira also.
In every age, by various names,
  You've won renown in story,
But on your present record flames
    A greater glory.
Cain, Esau, and Iscariot, too,
  And Ananias, likewise,
Each had peculiar powers, but who
    Could lie as Mike lies?