[Skip Navigation]

Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

The Goat And I

Robert Service

Each sunny day upon my way
          A goat I pass;
He has a beard of silver grey,
          A bell of brass.
And all the while I am in sight
          He seems to muse,
And stares at me with all his might
          And chews and chews.

Upon the hill so thymy sweet
          With joy of Spring,
He hails me with a tiny bleat
          Of welcoming.
Though half the globe is drenched with blood
          And cities flare,
Contentedly he chews the cud
          And does not care.

Oh gentle friend, I know not what
          Your age may be,
But of my years I’d give the lot
          Yet left to me,
To chew a thistle and not choke,
          But bright of eye
Gaze at the old world-weary bloke
          Who hobbles by.

Alas! though bards make verse sublime,
          And lines to quote,
It takes a fool like me to rhyme
          About a goat.
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Rhymes for My Rags
Add Keyword Tags

Separate each tag with a space. You may add as many tags as you'd like to each poem.

What are tags?
Tags, sometimes called “folksonomies,” are words that describe or categorize a poem, like “20th century modernism” or “Italian sonnet”. Tags can help you find poems that have something in common, based on how other people classify them.

More Info

This site will work and look better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any Internet device.