I SING the Foot. Let every Muse's wing Arrange its quills and fan the classic lay -- For Phoeligbus had a foot -- and Venus blessed Had more than that, a foot and ancle too. Neptune, as Homer sung, could cause the shades, And woods, and mountains tremble with his step. Immortal was his foot-fall. Juno bright, Stampted, when she scolded forth in Jove's own court. 'T was Hebe's foot that bore the nectar round, And Jupiter's great toe that Mulciber Leaped from to Lemnos. -- But enough of all This heathen lore -- this pantheon exercise. What when the drum beats, and the panting ranks Are joining, closing, moving on the foe -- When the deep whisper speeds along the line, And all must "do or die" -- what onward moves The heart-pulse and the nerve, the ready hand, The eye determined, and the kindling soul! What urges up the bayonet -- what mounts The desperate height, the ladder and the breach, And tramples on the rended, blood-stained flag? What firmest paces on the rampart walk, Or softest trips it to a lady's bower, Or lightest sports it in the fairy dance, Or what, on provocation, first applies Its energies to kick a scamp down stairs? O Swift Achilles of the tender heel-- O well-shod Grecians of the classic boots, -- O Infantry of poets, to whose feet Nor boot, nor shoe, nor stocking e'er belonged, O Cinderella of the vitreous sock -- O Giant-killing Jack with seven leagued strides, Assist me to immortalize the foot. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPAIN IN AMERICA by GEORGE SANTAYANA THE BEAUTIFUL by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE BABY, FR. AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND by GEORGE MACDONALD AFTERNOON ON A HILL by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY THE DARK HILLS by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON EMPTYING ASHES by MAXWELL ANDERSON THE SINGERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |