The Poetry Corner

The Microbe

By Hilaire Belloc

The Microbe is so very small You cannot make him out at all, But many sanguine people hope To see him through a microscope. His jointed tongue that lies beneath A hundred curious rows of teeth; His seven tufted tails with lots Of lovely pink and purple spots, On each of which a pattern stands, Composed of forty separate bands; His eyebrows of a tender green; All these have never yet been seen, But Scientists, who ought to know, Assure us that they must be so.... Oh! let us never, never doubt What nobody is sure about!