Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A GRIZZLY IN THE ZOO, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL First Line: A shame to your kin, you good-natured bear Last Line: Of the mighty paw that was meant to slay. Subject(s): Animals; Bears; Wilderness; Zoos | ||||||||
A shame to your kin, you good-natured bear, You show no regrets for your lost mountain lair. At play in the cage of your traveling zoo With the child who throws peanuts and apples at you! The lion is wroth and the tiger is sly, But you eat, and twinkle your small black eye; From the top of your pole you look down as if man Were a brother who does what a brother can. Do you never dream of Sierra's height Where your comrades hunt on the trail all night? Do you think such hide and muscles were meant To accept a pampered and slavish content? Resistance that fails is better by far Than submission that fondles its cage and its bar. Break some fetter that binds; go tear up the earth, And show yourself worthy your savage birth. The tiger's snarl and the lion's roar, That pierce unavailing their iron door, Less ignoble seem than the pitiful play Of the mighty paw that was meant to slay. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SARAJEVO ZOO by GLYN MAXWELL PETE AT THE ZOO by GWENDOLYN BROOKS THE ST. LOUIS ZOO by CAROL FROST THE HOOLIGAN ZOO by PETER JOHNSON AT THE ZOO IN SPAIN by CLARENCE MAJOR CLOSING TIME AT THE SAN DIEGO ZOO by KAREN SWENSON BEAUTY AND THE BEAST by ELEANOR WILNER THOUGHTS IN A ZOO by COUNTEE CULLEN TREAD THE DARK: 51 by DAVID IGNATOW 87 CASA GRANDE by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL |
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