An Ode to Microbes

The Microbe

by: Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953)

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 it must be so...
Oh! let us never, never doubt
What nobody is sure about!

Hilaire Belloc, "The Microbe" / More Beasts for Worse Children /
Duckworth / 1912.

Hat Tip to Clare