Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume V. Nature. 1904. | | | | VI. Animate Nature | | To an Insect | | Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894) |
| | | I LOVE to hear thine earnest voice, | |
| Wherever thou art hid, | |
| Thou testy little dogmatist, | |
| Thou pretty Katydid! | |
| Thou mindest me of gentlefolks,— | 5 |
| Old gentlefolks are they,— | |
| Thou say’st an undisputed thing | |
| In such a solemn way. | |
| |
| Thou art a female, Katydid! | |
| I know it by the trill | 10 |
| That quivers through thy piercing notes, | |
| So petulant and shrill. | |
| I think there is a knot of you | |
| Beneath the hollow tree,— | |
| A knot of spinster Katydids,— | 15 |
| Do Katydids drink tea? | |
| |
| O, tell me where did Katy live, | |
| And what did Katy do? | |
| And was she very fair and young, | |
| And yet so wicked too? | 20 |
| Did Katy love a naughty man, | |
| Or kiss more cheeks than one? | |
| I warrant Kitty did no more | |
| Than many a Kate has done. | | | | |
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