wotthehell – for you Hannah

Once in a while a RV park's book exchange will hold a treasure and I was fortunate to find such a treasure.  I have don marquis' book "archy and mehitabel" with pictures by george herriman.   Archy was a talking cockroach and Mehitabel was an alley cat. Due to a tragic mishap of destiny, Archy, once a great poet, was reincarnated as a roach, but maintained the poet's soul, which he poured out in verse each night by hopping from key to key on Mr. Don Marquis' rusty old typewriter. Archy told stories about Mehitabel the cat, Freddy the Rat, and other denizens of the garage he lived in. Since he couldn't manage the shift key, his verse was relatively unadorned by punctuation and all in lower case.  It is a great book.  Yes Hannah it will be sent to you to be place in the library. 
the lesson of the moth
By Don Marquis, in "archy and mehitabel," 1927
i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires
why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense
plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with the routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for
it is better to be a part of beauty
for one instant and then cease to
exist than to exist forever
and never be a part of beauty
our attitude toward life
is come easy go easy
we are like human beings
used to be before they became
too civilized to enjoy themselves
and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myself i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity
but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself
archy