I have achieved the life of contemplation, My paws are clean, I have not touched the mire, I do not bark and yelp in irritation But wait for satisfactions I require. Life may pass by, the months pile higher and higher, I am secure: two meals a day, a carriage In which to take the air, a pleasant fire To dream before, and periodic marriage. I have anaesthetized all my ambition And paradoxically serve another's; Existence has become a noble mission -- Admiring me, competitors are brothers, And when they pin a ribbon on my neck Feel it to be themselves they thus bedeck. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNET TO HIS FRIEND R.L. IN PRAISE OF MUSIQUE AND POETRIE by RICHARD BARNFIELD CINQUAIN: SUSANNA AND THE ELDERS by ADELAIDE CRAPSEY TO EDWARD FITZGERALD by ALFRED TENNYSON KINGFISHER by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN LINES TO MRS. KEMBLE, IN THE CHARACTER OF YARICO by ROBERT BURNS |