An Ape is but a trivial beast, <br />Men count it light and vain; <br />But I would let them have their thoughts, <br />To have my Ape again. <br /> <br /> <br />To love a beast in any sort <br />Is no great sign of grace; <br />But I have loved a flouting Ape's <br />'Bove any lady's face. <br /> <br /> <br />I have known the power of two fair eyes, <br />In smile or else in glance, <br />And how (for I a lover was) <br />They make the spirits dance; <br /> <br /> <br />But I would give two hundred smiles <br />Of them that fairest be, <br />For one look of my staring Ape <br />That used to stare on me. <br /> <br /> <br />This beast, this Ape, it had a face- <br />If face it might be styled- <br />Sometimes it was a staring Ape, <br />Sometimes a beauteous child- <br /> <br /> <br />A Negro flat-a Pagod squat, <br />Cast in a Chinese mould- <br />And then it was a Cherub's face <br />Made of the beaten gold! <br /> <br /> <br />But Time, that's meddling, meddling still, <br />And always altering things- <br />And what's already at the best <br />To alteration brings, <br /> <br /> <br />That turns the sweetest buds to flowers, <br />And chops and changes toys, <br />That breaks up dreams, and parts old friends, <br />And still commutes our joys- <br /> <br /> <br />Has changed away my Ape at last <br />And in its place conveyed, <br />Thinking therewith to cheat my sight, <br />A fresh and blooming maid! <br /> <br /> <br />And fair to sight is she-and still <br />Each day doth sightlier grow, <br />Upon the ruins of the Ape, <br />My ancient playfellow! <br /> <br /> <br />The tale of Sphinx, and Theban jests <br />I true in me perceive; <br />I suffer riddles; death from dark <br />Enigmas I receive: <br /> <br /> <br />Whilst a hid being I pursue, <br />That lurks in a new shape, <br />My darling in herself I miss, <br />And, in my ape, the ape. <br /> <br />1806.<br /><br />Charles Lamb<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-ape/
