Page:Armistice Day.djvu/224

202 The paws, the wings, the fins, wherewith they pass,

And scaly bellies wriggling through the grass!

The fuzz, the fur, the feathers, and the chines,

And in the thickets bead-eyed balls of spines!

The spots, the stripes! The black, the white, the dun!

And stalking water-birds ablaze in sun!

Behind facades of motions, shapes, and hues,

Behind this moving veil, what news, what news?

When the Field Gray defiled through Brussels town,

What did the Bear devise on flopping down?

When Lusitania sank, was the Raccoon

Dreaming of fish in tree-top under moon?

When Bayonets plunged (so skillfully withdrawn),

What felt the Tiger with his tooth in fawn?

When man's four limbs convolved in pain and hate,

What felt the Octopus through all his eight,

Cast on the beach by tidal wave at dawn?

What felt the Mole, the blind and blindly led,

Burrowing with paws and ridging earth with head?

What felt the Hawk, who, in the clouded night,

Swooped to the pinfold by the window-light?

Or Shark on back, with lower jaw agape—

That chinless jaw, on top and toothed for rape?...