TO AN INSECT by Oliver Wendell Holmes

I love to hear thine earnest voice,
Wherever thou art hid,
Thou testy little dogmatist,
Thou pretty Katydid!
Thou mindest me of gentlefolks,-
Old gentlefolks are they,-
Thou say’st an undisputed thing
In such a solemn way.

Thou art a female, Katydid!
I know it by the trill
That quivers through thy piercing notes,
So petulant and shrill;
I think there is a knot of you
Beneath the hollow tree-
A knot of spinster Katydids,-
Do Katydids drink tea?

O tell me where did Katy live,
And what did Katy do?
And was she very fair and young,
And yet so wicked , too?
Did Katy love a naughty man,
Or kiss more cheeks than one?
I warrant Katy did not more
Than many a Kate has done.

Dear me! I’ll tell you all about
My fuss with little Jane,
And Ann, with whom I used to walk
So often down the lane,
And all that tore their locks of black,
Or wet their eyes of blue,-
Pray tell me, sweetest Katydid,
What did poor Katy do?

Ah no! Living oak shall crash
That stood for ages still,
The rock shall rend its mossy base
And thunder sown the kill,
Before the little Katydid
Shall add one word, to tell
The mystic story of the maid
Whose name she knows so well.

Peace to the ever-murmuring race!
And when the latest one
Shall fold in death her feeble wings
Beneath the autumn sun,
Then shall she raise her fainting voice,
And lift her drooping lid,
And then the child of future years,
Shall hear what Katy did.

All about lost youth, isn’t it? Secrets left hidden and unspoken. Sweet images of mystic memories past. A common grasshopper monopolized the pen of a poet even for a brief, wordy interlude. I recall 4 words that monopolized a country, Great Britain, at the beginning of World War II.. Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister, called for "blood, tears, toil and sweat," to help England maintain her glorious status. I wish to suggest 4 words necessary for America today to recapture her glorious past ( now being lost UNDER OBAMA’S DICTATORSHIP ). Citizens need to "think, work, save and invest, " each effort a metaphorical, mental countenance of blood, tears, toil and sweat.