A FISH ANSWERS

Amazing monster! that, for aught I know,

With the first sight of thee didst make our race

    For ever stare! 0 flat and shocking face,

Grimly divided from the breast below!

Thou that on dry land horribly dost go

With a split body and most ridiculous pace,

    Prong after prong, disgracer of all grace,

Long-useless-tinned, haired, upright, unwet, slow!

 0 breather of unbreathable, sword-sharp air,

    How canst exist? How bear thyself, thou dry

And dreary sloth? What particle canst share

    Of the only blessed life, the watery?

I sometimes see of ye an actual pair

    Go by! linked tin by fin! most odiously.

                                                   -Leigh Hunt