The Best of Archy and Mehitabel by Don Marquis Page B

lore
    of how the bees are organized
    and why the ants are civilized
    may even hope for to approach
    the culture of an average roach
    if he is humble and not smug
    may emulate the tumble bug
    for we insects now inherit
    all humanity has builded
    all they raised with brawn and spirit
    all the domes and spires they gilded
    time the anthropophagous
    swallows down all human works
    through his broad esophagus
    moslems christians hindus turks
    pass to their sarcophagus
    leaving nothing much on earth
    which even beetles find of worth

    may emulate the tumble bug
    i mention nineveh and tyre
    i cite the tower of babel
    troy which fell into the fire
    and sodom with its rabble
    where are all the towns of siddim
    where the kings of crete
    long long since the desert hid em
    and the spiders bite their feet
    following an old convention
    dating back to jeremiah
    i might even mention
    babylon i might enquire
    where o where is babylon
    and the echo answers where
    for its former ruling wizards
    sleep in sand and silicon
    with gravel in their gizzards
    and sand burrs in their hair
    and the centipedes are dancing
    in the chambers of the palace
    where the kings and queens entrancing
    used to quaff the ruby chalice
    and proceed to their romancing
    i look forward to the day
    when the human race is done
    and we insects romp and play
    freely underneath the sun
    and no roach paste is scattered
    about anywhere i got another jolt of it
    last night and today i seem to have a case
    of intestinal flu the trouble with you
    human beings is you are just plain wicked
    archy

archy a low brow
    boss i saw a picture
    of myself in a paper
    the other day
    writing on a typewriter
    with some of my feet
    i wish it was as easy
    as that what i have to do
    is dive at each key
    on the machine
    and bump it with my head
    and sometimes it telescopes
    my occiput into my
    vertebrae and i have a
    permanent callus
    on my forehead
    i am in fact becoming
    a low brow think of it
    me with all my learning
    to become a low brow
    hoping that you
    will remain the same
    i am as ever your
    faithful little bug
    archy

    i am in fact becoming a low brow

ballade of the under side
    by archy
    the roach that scurries
    skips and runs
    may read far more than those
    that fly
    i know what family skeletons
    within your closets
    swing and dry
    not that i ever
    play the spy
    but as in corners
    dim i bide
    i can t dodge knowledge
    though i try
    i see things from
    the under side
    the lordly ones the
    haughty ones
    with supercilious
    heads held high
    the up stage stiff
    pretentious guns
    miss much that meets
    my humbler eye
    not that i meddle
    perk or pry
    but i m too small
    to feel great pride
    and as the pompous world
    goes by
    i see things from
    the under side
    above me wheel
    the stars and suns
    but humans shut
    me from the sky
    you see their eyes as pure
    as nuns
    i see their wayward
    feet and sly
    i own and own it with
    a sigh
    my point of view
    is somewhat wried
    i am a pessimistic
    guy
    i see things from the
    under side
    l envoi
    prince ere you pull a bluff
    and lie
    before you fake
    and play the snide
    consider whether
    archy s nigh
    i see things from
    the under side

archy wants to end it all
    well boss from time
    to time i just simply
    get bored with having
    to be a cockroach my
    soul my real ego if
    you get what i mean is
    tired of being shut
    up in an insects body the
    best you can say for it is that it
    is unusual and you could
    say as much for mumps so
    while feeling gloomy the
    other night the thought came
    to me why not
    go on to the next stage as
    soon as possible why not
    commit suicide and
    maybe be reincarnated in
    some higher form of life why
    not be the captain of my
    soul the master of my fate and
    the more i pondered over it the
    more i was attracted to
    the notion well boss you would
    be surprised to find
    out how hard it is for a
    cockroach to commit suicide unless
    you have been one
    and tried it of course i
    could let mehitabel the
    cat damage me and die that
    way but all my