Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BRAGGART, by HERBERT KAUFMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BRAGGART, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Said the redwood tree
Last Line: "shall his death be dug."
Subject(s): Pride; Self-esteem; Self-respect


SAID the redwood tree,
"What is time to me?
I was old when the bronze man came.
And the mammoth's hide
Scraped against my side
And I heard the mastodon trumpet his pride.
And one by one at my feet they died.
Ten thousand years in my heart I hide."
But the beetle smiled,
As she bored and filed
And she laid her egg and she hatched her child.
And she said to her grub
"Oh, my patient cub
I shall die at dawn—
But the work goes on.
By the worm and the slug
And the hungry bug
Bite by bite
Mite by mite
Shall his death be dug."





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