Living

Strictly Germ-proof

by Arthur Guiterman 1871–1943

From The Home Book of Verse, ed. Burton Egbert Stevenson (1912)

Living

The Antiseptic Baby and the Prophylactic Pup
Were playing in the garden when the Bunny gamboled up;
They looked upon the Creature with a loathing undisguised;—
It wasn't Disinfected and it wasn't Sterilized.

They said it was a Microbe and a Hotbed of Disease;
They steamed it in a vapor of a thousand-odd degrees;
They froze it in a freezer that was cold as Banished Hope,
And washed it in permanganate with carbolated soap.

In sulphureted hydrogen they steeped its wiggly ears;
They trimmed its frisky whiskers with a pair of hard-boiled shears;
They donned their rubber mittens and they took it by the hand
And 'lected it a member of the Fumigated Band.

There's not a Micrococcus in the garden where they play;
They bathe in pure iodoform a dozen times a day;
And each imbibes his rations from a Hygienic Cup—
The Bunny and the Baby and the Prophylactic Pup.

MLA

Guiterman, Arthur. “Strictly Germ-proof.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/guiterman/5/.

Chicago

Guiterman, Arthur. “Strictly Germ-proof.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/guiterman/5/.

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