Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850–1894). A Child’s Garden of Verses and Underwoods. 1913.
XXX. A Portrait
I
Unfriendly to the nose and eyes;
A blue-behinded ape, I skip
Upon the trees of Paradise.
In solemn, sanctimonious state,
And have the air of saying grace
While I defile the dinner plate.
The battener upon garbage, I—
Dear Heaven, with such a rancid life,
Were it not better far to die?
I love to scamper, love to race,
To swing by my irreverent tail
All over the most holy place;
The unfailing sportsman, aiming at,
Shall bag, me—all the world shall say:
Thank God, and there’s an end of that!