Poem by Ellis Parker Butler

A Question

Whene’er I feed the barnyard folk
  My gentle soul is vexed;
My sensibilities are torn
  And I am sore perplexed.

The rooster so politely stands
  While waiting for his food,
But when I feed him, what a change!
  He then is rough and rude.

He crowds his gentle wives aside
  Or pecks them on the head;
Sometimes I think it would be best
  If he were never fed.

And so I often stand for hours
  Deciding which is right—
To impolitely have enough,
  Or starve and be polite.

1. Song for Heroes
2. A Scotchman Whose Name Was Isbister
3. A Satisfactory Reform
4. Night in the City
5. The Golf Walk

Robert Frost A Question ("A voice said, Look me in the stars")

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