William Otterspeare

All the world's an otter, And all the men and women merely otters: They have their paws and their noses; And one otter in his time makes many burrows, His acts being seven species. At first the European otter, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. And then the hairy-nosed otter, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like badger Unwillingly to school. And then the Spotty-necked otter, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his badger's eyebrow. Then a neotropical river otter, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the wolverine, Jealous in river, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking to murder people Even with the cannon's mouth. And then the polecat, To be fair not an otter but a member of the family mind, With eyes severe and beard of otter cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his otter. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper'd Oriental small-clawed otter, With fur on nose and pouch on side, His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Turning again toward a more otter sounding voice, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness of the smooth-coated otter, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything, roadkill. Poor otter.