| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. To a Clam | | By John Godfrey Saxe (1816–1887) |
| | Dum tacent clamant
INGLORIOUS friend! most confident I am | |
| Thy life is one of very little ease; | |
| Albeit men mock thee with their similes, | |
| And prate of being “happy as a clam”! | |
| What though thy shell protects thy fragile head | 5 |
| From the sharp bailiffs of the briny sea? | |
| Thy valves are, sure, no safety-valves to thee, | |
| While rakes are free to desecrate thy bed, | |
| And bear thee off,—as foemen take their spoil,— | |
| Far from thy friends and family to roam; | 10 |
| Forced, like a Hessian, from thy native home, | |
| To meet destruction in a foreign broil! | |
| Though thou art tender, yet thy humble bard | |
| Declares, O clam! thy case is shocking hard! | | | | |
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