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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


DOMESTICATION by HAROLD WILLARD GLEASON

First Line: A MAN LEARNED MUCH WHO LOOKED IN BRIMBY'S EYES!
Last Line: THE HUMBLE HORSE (OR JACKASS) AND THE COW . . .
Subject(s): ANIMALS;

A man learned much who looked in Brimby's eyes!
All the wild creatures of the earth lurked there:
The lion fierce, the serpent crafty-wise,
The boar (at meal-times) and the clowning bear;
Again, the wolf -- when subtly-ordered hair,
Red seeking lips, swift glances, challenge threw;
The basilisk, which fixed with stony stare
Its hapless victim, could be found there too.
All this, however, was before the shrew,
That town Calypso, seeming so demure,
Wasp-waisted, tiger-tongued, had wed him . . . Now
Within that glance that once flashed steely-blue
Appeared new shadows -- creatures that endure --
The humble horse (or jackass) and the cow . . .



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