Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONNET TO A CLAM, by JOHN GODFREY SAXE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONNET TO A CLAM, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Inglorious friend! Most confident I am
Last Line: Declares, o clam! Thy case is shocking hard!
Subject(s): Clams


INGLORIOUS friend! most confident I am
Thy life is one of very little ease;
Albeit men mock thee with their similes
And prate of being "happy as a clam!"
What though thy shell protects thy fragile head
From the sharp bailiffs of the briny sea?
Thy valves are, sure, no safety-valves to thee,
While rakes are free to desecrate thy bed,
And bear thee off, -- as foemen take their spoil, --
Far from thy friends and family to roam;
Forced, like a Hessian, from thy native home,
To meet destruction in a foreign broil!
Though thou art tender, yet thy humble bard
Declares, O clam! thy case is shocking hard!





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