William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. (1878–1962). Anthology of Massachusetts Poets. 1922.

Red Rooster

RED rooster in your gray coop,

O stately creature with tail-feathers red and blue,

Yellow and black,

You have a comb gay as a parade

On your head:

You have pearl trinkets

On your feet:

The short feathers smooth along your back

Are the dark color of wet rocks,

Or the rippled green of ships

When I look at their sides through water.

I don’t know how you happened to be made

So proud, so foolish,

Wearing your coat of many colors,

Shouting all day long your crooked words,

Loud … sharp … not beautiful!