Death Of A Cockroach
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
I opened wide the bath-room door,
And all at once switched on the light,
When moving swift across the floor
I saw a streak of ebon bright:
Then quick, with slipper in my hand,
Before it could escape,--I slammed.
I missed it once, I missed it twice,
But got it ere it gained its lair.
I fear my words were far from nice,
Though d----s with me are rather rare:
Then lo! I thought that dying roach
Regarded me with some reproach.
Said I: "Don't think I grudge you breath;
I hate to spill your greenish gore,
But why did you invite your death
By straying on my bath-room floor?"
"It is because," said he (or she),
"Adventure is my destiny.
"By evolution I was planned,
And marvellously made as you;
And I am led to understand
The selfsame God conceived us two:
Sire, though the coup de grâce you give,
Even a roach has right to live."
Said I: "Of course you have a right,--
But not to blot my bath-room floor.
Yet though with slipper I may smite,
Your doom I morally deplore . . .
From cellar gloom to stellar space
Let bards and beetles have their place.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 216 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABCXDEDEFF GAGAHH CICIXX BABAJJ |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,036 |
Words | 206 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 6, 6, 6 |
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"Death Of A Cockroach" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/32070/death-of-a-cockroach>.
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