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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE CATFISH, by OLIVER BROOK HERFORD Poet's Biography
First Line: The saddest fish that swims the briny ocean
Last Line: If you know what it is!
Subject(s): Fish & Fishing; Sea; Anglers; Ocean
First Line: The saddest fish that swims the briny ocean
Last Line: If you know what it is!
Subject(s): Fish & Fishing; Sea; Anglers; Ocean
THE saddest fish that swims the briny ocean,
The Catfish I bewail.
I cannot even think without emotion
Of his distressful tail.
When with my pencil once I tried to draw one,
(I dare not show it here)
Mayhap it is because I never saw one,
The picture looked so queer.
I vision him half feline and half fishy,
A paradox in twins,
Unmixable as vitriol and vichy --
A thing of fur and fins.
A feline Tantalus, forever chasing
His fishy self to rend;
His finny self forever self-effacing
In circles without end.
This tale may have a Moral running through it
As AEsop had in his;
If so, dear reader, you are welcome to it,
If you know what it is!
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
HALL OF OCEAN LIFE by JOHN HOLLANDER
JULY FOURTH BY THE OCEAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS
BOATS IN A FOG by ROBINSON JEFFERS
CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS
THE FIGUREHEAD by LEONIE ADAMS
LIMERICK by OLIVER BROOK HERFORD