Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LINES; WRITTEN AFTER READING SALT'S 'THE LOGIC OF VEGETARIANISM', by FREDERIC ROWLAND MARVIN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LINES; WRITTEN AFTER READING SALT'S 'THE LOGIC OF VEGETARIANISM', by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: No doubt I am a fool to eat
Last Line: I like the change in diet well.
Subject(s): Cabbage; Salt, Henry S. (1851-1939); Vegetarians


NO doubt I am a fool to eat
Legs, tails, internal things, and feet;
For he who makes of flesh a feast,
Must come himself to be a beast.

So good old Henry Salt believes,
He'd have us live on cabbage-leaves,
Fruits, nuts, and juicy twigs, and bark,
Whatever grows in wood or park.

Ah me! I am a sinner sure,
With lips and stomach all impure:
I've been by Christian cooks misled;
Where shall I hide my guilty head?

Come gentle browser on the sod,
Lead my poor soul to peace and God;
Henceforth this diet shall be mine:
Sweet clover-head and dandelion.

Yet I may drink a glass of wine—
Why not? It is the fruit of vine:
On good Kentucky whiskey too
Old Salt has placed no hard taboo.

Draw near and light the evening flame,
Dear Salt be thanked! there is no shame
In sweet tobacco—'t is a weed;
It cannot suffer pain and bleed.

Havana Twists and Henry Clays
Make fragrant all our nights and days.
What more can any sinner ask,
Than sweet Perfectos and a flask?

No more at Izaak Walton's feet,
I take the merry angler's seat;
Unharmed through friendly stream and sky,
The fish may swim, the birds may fly.

Nor gun nor hook shall bring them pain,
The Golden Age shall come again,—
At least, so far as I'm concerned.
The cruel heart that in me burned,

Has heard hypnotic words from Salt,
And I've surrendered flesh for malt;
Yet, on the whole, the truth to tell,
I like the change in diet well.





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