WE are very slightly changed From the semi-apes who ranged India's prehistoric clay; Whoso drew the longest bow, Ran his brother down, you know, As we run men down to-day. "Dowb," the first of all his race, Met the Mammoth face to face On the lake or in the cave, Stole the steadiest canoe, Ate the quarry others slew, Died-and took the finest grave. When they scratched the reindeer-bone. Some one made the sketch his own, Filched it from the artist-then, Even in those early days, Won a simple Viceroy's praise Through the toil of other men. Ere they hewed the Sphinx's visage Favoritism governed kissage, Even as it does in this age. Who shall doubt the secret hid Under Cheops' pyramid Was that the contractor did Cheops out of several millions? Or that Joseph's sudden rise To Comptroller of Supplies Was a fraud of monstrous size On King Pharaoh's swart Civilians? Thus, the artless songs I sing Do not deal with anything New or never said before. As it was in the beginning, Is to-day official sinning, And shall be forevermore. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SICILIAN EMIGRANT'S SONG by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS CORINNA TO TANAGRA, FROM ATHENS by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR SONNET: 98 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 32. AL-KHABIR by EDWIN ARNOLD THE GIFT by ALICE EWING BLACKWELL IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE GEOGRAPHER'S GLORY; OR, THE GLOBE IN 1730 by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |