This working life now wearies me,
I shall no longer scheme
Nor strive; instead, I shall remove
To an imaginary creature's dream.
To be in the dream of an Iffrit bold,
Or the dream of Shakespeare's imp;
Or, scraping the barrel, to be in the dream
Of Little Hawk's two-bit chimp.
Now there would be a vivid life,
Of color and fire and vim
But oh, the risk, in such a life,
Of then becoming him!
No longer would I dream at peace,
Or fly the world at ease;
Instead I'd toss throughout the night
Scratching my dream-self's fleas.
The curses and the violent thoughts,
The rank and sour smell!
Perhaps I'd rather stay employed
Than live in such a hell.

Gantry Jacobsen Schmidt IV
Seeking Another Path Not Taken
Collected Verses of Ineptitude
Brown, Little and Fowl
Rochester, 1932