"Though logic-choppers rule the town, And every man and maid and boy Has marked a distant object down, An aimless joy is a pure joy," Or so did Tom O'Roughley say That saw the surges running by, "And wisdom is a butterfly And not a gloomy bird of prey. "If little planned is little sinned But little need the grave distress. What's dying but a second wind? How but in a zig-zag wantonness Could trumpeter Michael be so brave?" Or something of that sort he said, "And if my dearest friend were dead, I'd dance a measure on his grave." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN EXPLANATION by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON AN ANTE-BELLUM SERMON by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE DORCHESTER GIANT by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES FLORAL DECORATIONS FOR BANANAS by WALLACE STEVENS CLEVER TOM CLINCH GOING TO BE HANGED by JONATHAN SWIFT THE MAID by KATHERINE MARIE CORNELIA BREGY THE MARTYR OF BRUSSELS by HENRY CHAPPELL |