To the Worm

First-born of all creation! yet unsung!
I call thee not to listen to my lay,
For well I know thou turnest a deaf ear,
Indifferent to the sweetest of complaints,
Sweetest -and most importunate. The voice
Which would awaken, and which almost can,
The sleeping dead, thou rearest up against
And no more heedest than the wreck below.
Yet art thou gentle; and for due reward,
Because thou art so humble in thy ways,
Thou hast survived the giants of waste worlds,
Giants whom chaos left unborn behind,
And Earth with fierce abhorrence at first sight
Shook from her bosom, some on burning sands,
Others on icy mountains, far apart;
Mammoth, and mammoth's architype, and coil
Of serpent cable-long, and ponderous mail
Of lizard, to whom crocodile was dwarf.
Wrong too hath oft been done thee: I have watcht
The nightingale, that most inquisitive
Of plumed powers, send forth a sidelong glance
From the low hazel on the smooth footpath,
Attracted by a glimmering tortuous thread
Of silver left there when the dew had dried,
And dart on one of thine, that one of hers
Might play with it. Alas! the young will play,
Reckless of leaving pain and death behind.
I too (but early from such sin forbore)
Have fasten'd on my hook, aside the stream
Of shady Arrowe or the broad mill-pond,
Thy writhing race. Thou wilt more patiently
Await my hour, more quietly pursue
Thy destined prey legitimate.
First-lorn,
I call'd thee at the opening of my song;
Last of creation I will call thee now.
What fiery meteors have we seen transcend
Our firmament! and mighty was their power,
To leave a solitude and stench behind.
The vulture may have revell'd upon men;
Upon the vulture's self thou revellest:
Princes may hold high festival; for thee
Chiefly they hold it. Every dish removed,
Thou comest in the silence of the night,
Takest thy place, thy train insinuatest
Into the breast, lappest that wrinkled heart
Stone-cold within, and with fresh appetite
Again art ready for a like carouse.
Behold before thee the first minstrel known
To turn from them and laud unbidden guest!
He, who hath never bent his brow to king,
Perforce must bend it, mightier lord, to thee.