Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CHAUTAUQUAN MAID, by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN KING



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CHAUTAUQUAN MAID, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: She had studied every ology
Last Line: But they got themselves in trouble, and, of course, got whipped, by gaul.
Alternate Author Name(s): King, Ben
Subject(s): Cleopatra, Queen Of Egypt (69-30 B.c.); England; Geology; Greek Language; Latin; Philology; English


SHE had studied every ology --
Ichthyology, zoology,
Philology, geology, conchology, and more;
Knew the bones of every mammal,
From the mouse up to the camel,
And the mollusks and crustaceans that crept on every shore.

To think her up in history
Was not at all a mystery;
She could name you any ruler from old England to Sumatra.
It would certainly amaze you
What she said about Aspasia
And the little unsophisticated maiden, Cleopatra.

She had studied Greek and Latin,
Hebrew, Sanscrit (please put that in);
Read Xenophon and Horace, Ovid, Virgil and the rest.
She didn't say, "I'll learn yuh,"
But "teach you" that Calphurnia
Sewed fifty-seven buttonholes in Julius Caesar's vest.

She loved to pull the petals
From a flower. The baser metals,
She doted on their study, and for nuggets she would bone you.
She loved the dromedary,
And the docile cassowary,
And the feathers of the emu she had stuck in her "chiffonier."

She had studied evolution,
And arrived at the solution
How long our first appendage was; of course, I didn't ask her,
But she said that she'd resolved from
What she knew, that I evolved from
A carrot-haired chimpanzee she had seen in Madagascar.

She could scan iambic meter,
And she knew each Roman praetor,
And surprised me when she told the way the empire came to fall.
The Huns sneaked in the forum,
And the Romans tried to floor 'em,
But they got themselves in trouble, and, of course, got whipped, by Gaul.





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