John Godfrey Saxe (1816–1887)

Dum tacent clamant

INGLORIOUS friend! most confident I am

Thy life is one of very little ease;

Albeit men mock thee with their similes,

And prate of being “happy as a clam”!

What though thy shell protects thy fragile head

From the sharp bailiffs of the briny sea?

Thy valves are, sure, no safety-valves to thee,

While rakes are free to desecrate thy bed,

And bear thee off,—as foemen take their spoil,—

Far from thy friends and family to roam;

Forced, like a Hessian, from thy native home,

To meet destruction in a foreign broil!

Though thou art tender, yet thy humble bard

Declares, O clam! thy case is shocking hard!