Of all the pesky, ugly and boringest of bugly Blood-sucking insect incubi I know, By far the worst is chigre, a pregnant flea no bigger Than just an atom of a second's toe. Nor "Don't you come!" nor dodgement checks uninvited lodgement Of chigre's spawn beneath my tender skin, Where she, bold bug, deposits her eggs by sixties, closets Her imps, without a qualm of conscience in. Zoologists say: "Spray them; tobacco juice will slay them," But, pshaw! all ointments ever known, it seems, Are vain to stop the twitching and seven-year-like itching And sleepless nights of pain that are no dreams. When, from the crowd's commotion, my seared feet take a notion To stray from furnace-hot cement -- Alas! There is the chigre's warning, each verdant blade adorning: "No trespassing allowed! Keep off the grass!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A PLANTATION BACCHANAL by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON GALAHAD IN THE CASTLE OF THE MAIDENS by SARA TEASDALE F. DE SAMARA TO A.G.A. by EMILY JANE BRONTE A BOOK OF AIRS SONG 18 by THOMAS CAMPION NEGRO by JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES ON THE SITE OF A MULBERRY-TREE PLANTED BY SHAKESPEARE ... by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI THE PASSERS BY by AL-RADI BILLAH |