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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE GAMECOCK, by JAY G. SIGMUND Poet's Biography
First Line: Gorgeously arrayed, the fire-backed
Last Line: And become civilized! . . . .
Subject(s): Animals; Hunting; Hunters
First Line: Gorgeously arrayed, the fire-backed
Last Line: And become civilized! . . . .
Subject(s): Animals; Hunting; Hunters
Gorgeously arrayed, the fire-backed
jungle fowl,
skulked like crimson shadows
through the tangled thickets of India,
where lurked venemous Cobras,
and ravenous pythons,
together with rapacious hawks,
bloodthirsty cheetahs,
greedy foxes
and sly jackals . . . .
Fire-backed jungle fowl
had need of great courage,
sharp eyes,
speed,
strong pinions,
pugnacity,
and gameness.
These valiant feathered beauties
were your forbears, strutting gamecock,
these feathered denizens of the jungle
gave you your great beauty;
together with your bravery,
and will to battle to death . . . .
It is a far cry
from the wilderness of Siam
to this stuffy wire bound prison;
reminding me
that only yesterday,
I saw a stalwart copper-hued Sioux,
bedecked with feathers and war-paint,
seated on a platform staring stupidly,
acting as an advertisement,
while a wordy faker
vended bottled nostrums.
(But all this is a part of evolution:
the world and its creatures
are improving.)
As to your gamecock:
With your rich mantle of flaming velvet,
I have mingled in a mob
amid blue tobacco smoke clouds,
while one of your kind struggled and bled in a pit,
finally to die gasping,
impaled on a sharp steel gaff
that brutes
might have a thrill!
He thought he must fight
as did his ancestors
to defend themselves
against enemies! . . . .
Tigers and leopards are caged to please man,
(Man sometimes imprisons his brother
for little else but his own amusement)
sables and seals are slaughtered to
bedeck his mate,
egrets are shot on their nests that
vanity may be appeased,
You, gamecock, fight to the death
to amuse man!
Yet we ultra cultured ones
give much of our time and money
to send missionaries
to the South Sea Island --
that the poor savage
may learn our ways
and become civilized! . . . .
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
THE LAMENT OF QUARRY by LEONIE ADAMS
KILLDEER by KENNETH SLADE ALLING
THE YOUNG FOWLER THAT MISTOOK HIS GAME by PHILIP AYRES
A POEM ABOUT THE HOUNDS AND THE HARES by LISEL MUELLER