Rooster.(Poem)

 
ROOSTER 
 
   Once all pomp and strut 
   and splendid crown, 
   you ruled the yard 
   like a petty chieftain. 
   At your approach 
   every dust-colored hen 
   genuflected. Your stiff comb 
   fluttered little hearts and eyelids. 
   Your fierce eye 
   squelched doubt and quelled insurrection. 
   As long as hawks' shadows swept the ground 
   and cats and weasels skulked 
   in every hayloft and wood pile, 
   the old bargain held-- 
   you manned your post 
   like a little soldier, 
   never backing down 
   from any sharp-toothed invader who strayed 
   into your domain, 
   then went home stiff and proud 
   to your perch at the top of the roost. 
 
   Then something happened. 
   Your stiff-necked, head-jabbing strut 
   evoked only titters. 
   Your blood-colored, swollen crown 
   seemed an ...