A man learned much who looked in Brimby's eyes! All the wild creatures of the earth lurked there: The lion fierce, the serpent crafty-wise, The boar (at meal-times) and the clowning bear; Again, the wolf -- when subtly-ordered hair, Red seeking lips, swift glances, challenge threw; The basilisk, which fixed with stony stare Its hapless victim, could be found there too. All this, however, was before the shrew, That town Calypso, seeming so demure, Wasp-waisted, tiger-tongued, had wed him . . . Now Within that glance that once flashed steely-blue Appeared new shadows -- creatures that endure -- The humble horse (or jackass) and the cow . . . | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE: 3. IN PORT by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON CHOEPHOROI: INVOCATION OF AGAMEMNON'S GHOST by AESCHYLUS TO THE CASTLE OF DONEGAL by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM OUTSIDE THE TOYSHOP by JANE BARLOW |