I dreamed that a cockroach came to me And the cockroach spoke, and he said, said he, "You think you're clever, you think you're great? Why, you ain't nuthin'—I'm here to state. "What right you got for to make a fuss Because you slaughtered a bunch of us? "When any roach that you'll ever view Is a better man than a man like you? "Why weight for weight and size for size You'd be a joke in a roach's eyes! "Have you got strength, have you got power, To jump the height of the Woolworth Tower? "Could you lift the whole of a five-ton truck Or pull a car out of Jersey muck? "Can you run two miles in ten seconds flat? Most any old cockroach can do that! "Or a cockroach @3could,@1 if he ever grew To be the size of a man like you! "So spray, if you must, my old gray head With venoms, powders, and poisons dread, @3"You're@1 bigger'n @3we@1 are—but this holds true That—gram for gram—@3we@1 are stronger'n you! "So you ain't so much as you think you be!" —That's what the cockroach said to me. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OUR COUNTRY'S CALL by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THE FOUNTAIN by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW (SEPTEMBER 25, 1857) by ROBERT TRAILL SPENCE LOWELL MEMORIAL TABLET (GREAT WAR, 1918) by SIEGFRIED SASSOON A SALON SCENE by ANTON ALEXANDER VON AUERSPERG THE PILGRIM FATHERS by LEONARD BACON (1802-1881) BRADDAN VICARAGE by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN |