STIFF are the warrior's muscles, Congeal'd, alas! his chyle; No more in hostile tussles Will he excite his bile. Dry is the epidermis, A vein no longer bleeds -- And the communis vermis Upon the warrior feeds. Compress'd, alas! the thorax, That throbbed with joy or pain; Not e'en a dose of borax Could make it throb again. Dried up the warrior's throat is, All shatter'd too, his head: Still is the epiglottis -- The warrior is dead. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES; THE 10TH SATIRE OF JUVENAL, IMITATED by SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-1784) SWORD AND BUCKLER; OR, SERVING-MAN'S DEFENCE: INTRODUCTION by WILLIAM BASSE SONNET by ETIENNE DE LA BOETIE BY AN INLAND LAKE by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE RED COTTON NIGHT-CAP COUNTRY; OR, TURF AND TOWERS: PART 2 by ROBERT BROWNING NOW COMES THE NIGHT by HERBERT GERHARD BRUNCKEN |