Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ODE TO THE CAMELEOPARD, by THOMAS HOOD


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ODE TO THE CAMELEOPARD, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Welcome to freedom's birth-place - and a den!
Last Line: And staring round him with a brace of beads!
Subject(s): Giraffes


WELCOME to Freedom's birth-place -- and a den!
Great Anti-climax, hail!
So very lofty in thy front -- but then,
So dwindling at the tail! --
In truth, thou hast the most unequal legs!
Has one pair gallop'd, whilst the other trotted,
Along with other brethren, leopard-spotted,
O'er Afric sand, where ostriches lay eggs?
Sure they were caught in some hard uphill chase,
Those hinder heels still keeping thee in check!
And yet thou seem'st prepared in any case,
Tho' they had lost the race,
To win it by a neck!

That lengthy neck -- how like a crane's it looks!
Art thou the overseer of all the brutes?
Or dost thou browse on tip-top leaves or fruits --
Or go a bird-nesting amongst the rooks?
How kindly nature caters for all wants;
Thus giving unto thee a neck that stretches,
And high food fetches --
To some a long nose, like the elephant's!

Oh! had'st thou any organ to thy bellows,
To turn thy breath to speech in human style,
What secrets thou might'st tell us,
Where now our scientific guesses fail;
For instance of the Nile,
Whether those Seven Mouths have any tail --
Mayhap thy luck too,
From that high head, as from a lofty hill,
Has let thee see the marvellous Timbuctoo --
Or drink of Niger at its infant rill;
What were the travels of our Major Denham,
Or Clapperton, to thine
In that same line,
If thou could'st only squat thee down and pen 'em!

Strange sights, indeed, thou must have overlook'd,
With eyes held ever in such vantage-stations!
Has seen, perchance, unhappy white folks cook'd,
And then made free of negro corporations?
Poor wretches saved from cast-away three-deckers --
By sooty wreckers --
From hungry waves to have a loss still drearier,
To far exceed the utmost aim of Park --
And find themselves, alas! beyond the mark,
In the insides of Africa's Interior!

Live on, Giraffe! genteelest of raff kind!
Admir'd by noble, and by royal tongues!
May no pernicious wind,
Or English fog, blight thy exotic lungs!
Live on in happy peace, altho' a rarity,
Nor envy thy poor cousin's more outrageous
Parisian popularity;
Whose very leopard-rash is grown contagious,
And worn on gloves and ribbons all about,
Alas! they'll wear him out!
So thou shalt take thy sweet diurnal feeds --
When he is stuff'd with undigested straw,
Sad food that never visited his jaw!
And staring round him with a brace of beads!





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net