Autocratesses, forgive my heat,
But isn't it time to change that stuff?
Small is the benison I entreat--
Why don't they ever have spoons enough?



Ornithology


Unlearned I in ornithology--
All I know about the birds
Is a bunch of etymology,
Just a lot of high--flown words.
Is the curlew an uxorial
Bird? The Latin name for crow?
Is the bulfinch grallatorial?
I dunno.

O'er my head no golden gloriole
Ever shall be proudly set
For my knowledge of the oriole,
Eagle, ibis, or egrette.
I know less about the tanager
And its hopes and fears and aims
Than a busy Broadway manager
Does of James.

But, despite my incapacity
On the birdies of the air,