Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ADAM'S OFF OX, by WALT MASON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ADAM'S OFF OX, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The world is old, the man still talks, at
Last Line: "but his ""off ox"" has come to stay; we hear it quoted every day."
Subject(s): Old Age


THE world is old, the man still talks, at times, of Adam's starboard ox. When
any man's profoundly dead, of him it's usually said, by folks on the adjacent
blocks, that he's as dead as Adam's ox. And if a stranger you shall see, and you

are asked who he may be, you say, "I give it up, old sox; I know him not from
Adam's ox." You say the "off ox," all the time, but that won't fit into this
rhyme. Oh, famous beast, immortal ox, whose shade still on this footstool walks!

No other brute, since time began, no mouse or mule or mole or man, thus
effortless has won renown, a fame the ages cannot down! How did you play your
bovine game, that you have earned this deathless fame? We hear no word of Adam's

hog, of Adam's mule, of Adam's dog; we've no description of his stove, or of the

motor car he drove, or of his watch or Sunday hat, or his imported Maltese cat,

but his "off ox" has come to stay; we hear it quoted every day.





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