I THOU dread, uncanny thing, With fuzzy breast and leathern wing, In mad, zigzagging flight, Notching the dusk, and buffeting The black cheeks of the night, With grim delight! II What witch's hand unhasps Thy keen claw-cornered wings From under the barn roof, and flings Thee forth, with chattering gasps, To scud the air, And nip the ladybug, and tear Her children's hearts out unaware? III The glowworm's glimmer, and the bright, Sad pulsings of the firefly's light, Are banquet lights to thee. O less than bird, and worse than beast, Thou Devil's self, or brat, at least, Grate not thy teeth at me! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN ROMNEY MARSH by JOHN DAVIDSON THE EMPEROR'S BIRD'S-NEST by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW NATURAL HISTORY by MOTHER GOOSE THE OLD BRIDGE by AUGUSTE ANGELLIER PSALM 143 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE |