SAID sprite o' me to body o' me: 'A malison on thee, trustless creature, That prat'st thyself mine effigy To them which view thy much misfeature. My hest thou no ways slav'st aright, Though slave-service be all thy nature: An evil thrall I have of thee, Thou adder coiled about delight!' Said body o' me to sprite o' me: 'Since bricks were wroughten without straw, Was never task-master like thee! Who art more evil of thy law Than Egypt's sooty Mizraim -- That beetle of an ancient dung: Naught recks it thee though I in limb Wax meagre -- so thy songs be sung.' Thus each by other is mis-said, And answereth with like despite; The spirit bruises body's head; The body fangs the heel of sprite; And either hath the other's wrong. And ye may see, that of this stour My heavy life doth fall her flower. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE TOMB AT AKR CAAR by EZRA POUND SONGS OF EXPERIENCE: INTRODUCTION by WILLIAM BLAKE UPON PRUE, HIS MAID by ROBERT HERRICK ABRAHAM LINCOLN WALKS AT MIDNIGHT by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY PICCIOLA by ROBERT HENRY NEWELL THE WHITE COMRADE (AFTER W.H. LEATHAM'S 'THE COMRADE IN WHIRE') by ROBERT HAVEN SCHAUFFLER THE FOOL'S PRAYER by EDWARD ROWLAND SILL |