"A thousand words on Courage." -- This request Dropped on me like a bomb on a sandbag shelter, And after much vague mental repetition Ranging from La Boisselle to Lord Macaulay, And metaphysical cross-examination On memories of conspicuous gallant conduct, I gave it up. That afternoon our boat Touched on a mud-flat, which we chose to cross, And as we waddled through it, a three-inch crab Disputed progress; one of his arms was gone; The other he held ready like a boxer, And backed and sidled to our every movement, His one arm ready; and to command full view Of the two monsters who had crossed the frontier, He strained his body backward, and stood tilted, Parrying every stroke we acted at him, Eyeing us, holding the line. "But you call this Instinct." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: HILDRUP TUBBS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS BY THE PACIFIC OCEAN by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER THE CRISIS by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER SO MUCH TO LEARN by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON SONNET: 271 by LUIS DE CAMOENS ANALYZE LOVE by ISABEL FISKE CONANT OUT OF THE SHADOWS: AN UNFINISHED SONNET-SEQUENCE 12 by JOSEPH SEAMON COTTER JR. |