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—
    Sapphira 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?