Scuttle, Scuttle, Little Roach

Christopher Morley 1890 (Haverford) – 1957



SCUTTLE, scuttle, little roach—
    How you run when I approach:
    Up above the pantry shelf,
    Hastening to secrete yourself.

    Most adventurous of vermin,
    How I wish I could determine
    How you spend your hours of ease,
    Perhaps reclining on the cheese.

    Cook has gone, and all is dark—
    Then the kitchen is your park:
    In the garbage heap that she leaves
    Do you browse among the tea leaves?

    How delightful to suspect
    All the places you have trekked:
    Does your long antenna whisk its
    Gentle tip across the biscuits?

    Do you linger, little soul,
    Drowsing in our sugar bowl?
    Or, abandonment most utter,
    Shake a shimmy on the butter?

    Do you chant your simple tunes
    Swimming in the baby's prunes?
    Then, when dawn comes, do you slink
    Homeward to the kitchen sink?

    Timid roach, why be so shy?
    We are brothers, thou and I.
    In the midnight, like yourself,
    I explore the pantry shelf!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 27, 2023

47 sec read
202

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABB XXCC DDEE FFXX GGHH IIDX JJBB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 974
Words 156
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Christopher Morley

Christopher Morley was accepted to UCLA in 1969 with a major in mathematics. more…

All Christopher Morley poems | Christopher Morley Books

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