Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, COMPARISONS, by BERTON BRALEY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

COMPARISONS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I dreamed that a cockroach came to me
Last Line: —that's what the cockroach said to me.
Subject(s): Cockroaches


I dreamed that a cockroach came to me
And the cockroach spoke, and he said, said he,

"You think you're clever, you think you're great?
Why, you ain't nuthin'—I'm here to state.

"What right you got for to make a fuss
Because you slaughtered a bunch of us?

"When any roach that you'll ever view
Is a better man than a man like you?

"Why weight for weight and size for size
You'd be a joke in a roach's eyes!

"Have you got strength, have you got power,
To jump the height of the Woolworth Tower?

"Could you lift the whole of a five-ton truck
Or pull a car out of Jersey muck?

"Can you run two miles in ten seconds flat?
Most any old cockroach can do that!

"Or a cockroach could, if he ever grew
To be the size of a man like you!

"So spray, if you must, my old gray head
With venoms, powders, and poisons dread,

"You're bigger'n we are—but this holds true
That—gram for gram—we are stronger'n you!

"So you ain't so much as you think you be!"
—That's what the cockroach said to me.





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