<h2>THE MOSQUITO</h2>
<h3>BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT</h3>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Fair insect! that, with thread-like legs spread out,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And blood-extracting bill, and filmy wing,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Dost murmur, as thou slowly sail'st about,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">In pitiless ears, fall many a plaintive thing,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And tell how little our large veins should bleed<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Would we but yield them to thy bitter need.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Unwillingly, I own, and, what is worse,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Full angrily, men listen to thy plaint;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Thou gettest many a brush and many a curse,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">For saying thou art gaunt, and starved, and faint.<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Even the old beggar, while he asks for food,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Would kill thee, hapless stranger, if he could.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">I call thee stranger, for the town, I ween,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Has not the honor of so proud a birth:<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Thou com'st from Jersey meadows, fresh and green,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">The offspring of the gods, though born on earth;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">For Titan was thy sire, and fair was she,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The ocean-nymph that nursed thy infancy.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Beneath the rushes was thy cradle swung,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And when at length thy gauzy wings grew strong,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Abroad to gentle airs their folds were flung,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Rose in the sky and bore thee soft along;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The south wind breathed to waft thee on thy way,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And danced and shone beneath the billowy bay.</span><span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_1200" id="Page_1200"></SPAN></span><br/></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Calm rose afar the city spires, and thence<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Came the deep murmur of its throng of men,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And as its grateful odors met thy sense,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">They seemed the perfumes of thy native fen.<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Fair lay its crowded streets, and at the sight<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Thy tiny song grew shriller with delight.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">At length thy pinion fluttered in Broadway,—<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Ah, there were fairy steps, and white necks kissed<br/></span>
<span class="i0">By wanton airs, and eyes whose killing ray<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Shone through the snowy veils like stars through mist;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And fresh as morn, on many a cheek and chin,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Bloomed the bright blood through the transparent skin.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Sure these were sights to tempt an anchorite!<br/></span>
<span class="i2">What! do I hear thy slender voice complain?<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Thou wailest when I talk of beauty's light,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">As if it brought the memory of pain.<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Thou art a wayward being—well, come near,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And pour thy tale of sorrow in mine ear.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">What say'st thou, slanderer! rouge makes thee sick?<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And China Bloom at best is sorry food?<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And Rowland's Kalydor, if laid on thick,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Poisons the thirsty wretch that bores for blood?<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Go! 'twas a just reward that met thy crime;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">But shun the sacrilege another time.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">That bloom was made to look at,—not to touch;<br/></span>
<span class="i2">To worship, not approach, that radiant white;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And well might sudden vengeance light on such<br/></span>
<span class="i2">As dared, like thee, most impiously to bite.<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Thou shouldst have gazed at distance, and admired,—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Murmured thy admiration and retired.</span><span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_1201" id="Page_1201"></SPAN></span><br/></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Thou'rt welcome to the town; but why come here<br/></span>
<span class="i2">To bleed a brother poet, gaunt like thee?<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Alas! the little blood I have is dear,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And thin will be the banquet drawn from me.<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Look round: the pale-eyed sisters in my cell,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Thy old acquaintance, Song and Famine, dwell.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Try some plump alderman, and suck the blood<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Enriched by generous wine and costly meat;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">On well-filled skins, sleek as thy native mud,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Fix thy light pump, and press thy freckled feet.<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Go to the men for whom, in ocean's halls,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The oyster breeds and the green turtle sprawls.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">There corks are drawn, and the red vintage flows,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">To fill the swelling veins for thee, and now<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The ruddy cheek and now the ruddier nose<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Shall tempt thee, as thou flittest round the brow;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And when the hour of sleep its quiet brings,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">No angry hand shall rise to brush thy wings.<br/></span>
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_1202" id="Page_1202"></SPAN></span></div>
</div>
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