Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe knew our living-tricks : He wound his mind and counted out the ticks ; And when the echo turned them into drums He did not linger sitting on his thumbs, He shut his ears, made notches on a stick, Pretending he, still only heard a tick.
He measured, catalogued, he weighed and mapped, Hoping his calculations would adapt His brain to its environment, his skull ; He thought in time his methods would annul The sense of his divorce ; his days he spent Depreciating it at five per cent.
And soon he found he could regard the sky Without the obsolescent query " Why ? " With only " Will it rain tonight ?" He knew Which were the problems he could hope to do And knowing, did not try to work out sums Whose vastness might hold echoes of the drums.
He kept his health ; the berries round his head (Which might be dangerous) he left, and fed On nuts and shellfish ; time passed ; soon he found He could be almost glad he had not drowned ; His attitudes were organised ; he ran Much like a well-adjusted modern man ; And so it is not hard to understand lois terror at the footprint in the sand
RICHARD DRAIN
Previous page
