The Humourous Poetry of the English Language

334
And mentioned--rather often--by CARLYLE?
Or, art thou but a serpent of the mind?
Doubts, though subdued, will oft recur again--
A serpent of the visionary kind,
Proceeding from the grog-oppressed brain?
Art thou a giant adder, or huge asp,
And hast thou got a rattle at thy tail?
If of the Boa species, couldst thou clasp
Within thy fold, and suffocate, a whale?
How long art thou?--Some sixty feet, they say,
And more--but how much more they do not know:
I fancy thou couldst reach across a bay
From head to head, a dozen miles or so.
Scales hast thou got, of course--but what's thy weight?
On either side 'tis said thou hast a fin,
A crest, too, on thy neck, deponents state,
A saw-shaped ridge of flabby, dabby skin.
If I could clutch thee--in a giant's grip--
Could I retain thee in that grasp sublime?
Wouldst thou not quickly through my fingers slip,
Being all over glazed with fishy slime?
Hast thou a forked tongue--and dost thou hiss
If ever thou art bored with Ocean's play?
And is it the correct hypothesis
That thou of gills or lungs dost breathe by way?
What spines, or spikes, or claws, or nails, or fin,
Or paddle, Ocean-Serpent, dost thou bear?
What kind of teeth show'st thou when thou dost grin?--
A set that probably would make one stare.
What is thy diet? Canst thou gulp a shoal
Of herrings? Or hast thou the gorge and room
To bolt fat porpoises and dolphins, whole,
By dozens, e'en as oysters we consume?