WORMS' MEAT, n. The finished product of which we are the raw material. The contents of the Taj Mahal, the Tombeau Napoleon and the Granitarium. Worms'-meat is usually outlasted by the structure that houses it, but "this too must pass away." Probably the silliest work in which a human being can engage is construction of a tomb for himself. The solemn purpose cannot dignify, but only accentuates by contrast the foreknown futility.
Ambitious fool! so mad to be a show!
How profitless the labor you bestow
Upon a dwelling whose magnificence
The tenant neither can admire nor know.
Build deep, build high, build massive as you can,
The wanton grass-roots will defeat the plan
By shouldering asunder all the stones
In what to you would be a moment's span.
Time to the dead so all unreckoned flies
That when your marble is all dust, arise,
If wakened, stretch your limbs and yawn —
You'll think you scarcely can have closed your eyes.
What though of all man's works your tomb alone
Should stand till Time himself be overthrown?
Would it advantage you to dwell therein
Forever as a stain upon a stone?
—Joel Huck
2008 Update: The substance assuring the fisherman of bait and the poet remorse, through which all men are productive.
11 comments:
Such a lovely day out...
I prefer the phrase "worm food" to the bluntness of the visual of worms sitting down and the dinner table with fork and knives at the ready.
Of course, fossil hunting would not be the same without the output of all those hungry worms.
Oh, and tlp? ladies before gentlemen. ...
We are having a beautiful day today. It was sunny and cool, in the upper 70s this morning.
OK, Worm's Meat: Did you ever see what attracts flies. Of course, food for their babies, those little worm's called magots.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/images/magots.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.simpletoremember.com/growth/Worms.htm&h=150&w=200&sz=20&tbnid=C6CyooPel24J::&tbnh=78&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmagots&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image&cd=1
..
We are having a beautiful day today. It was sunny and cool, in the upper 70s this morning.
OK, Worm's Meat: Did you ever see what attracts flies. Of course, food for their babies, those little worm's called magots.
http://www.simpletoremember.com/growth/Worms.htm
..
Us , the food of the elected , or those seeking to be so elevated ... take US in , savor,chew,spit out ...and so the cycle goes . Peace and out :-)
Great additive for hamburger.
The worms crawl in,
The worms crawl out
The worms play pinochle on your snout ...
Thanks, Dawg. You put me right off my breakfast.
Yucky!
The last line of that poem is kind of hitonious.
It is true that building a huge monument does not keep one from becoming worm's meat. Whether you're tossed into the ground without a box or enshrined in a magnificent tomb, the old flesh will rot away. Hideous, but true!
Even those well preserved mummies look ghastly.
Worms shall have a large feast on my bohunkus.
Oh, the horrors!!
I feel like reading some Poe now.
At least in a tomb the worms can't get to you, at least theoretically.
What do worms eat?
"Worms eat me."
How d'ya know ?
"Read Doug, you'll see."
;)
fie! did you say something bad about my Taj Mahal? you're dawg meat
nruxqw: now are you quaking?
TLP, deep fried?
It's true, Sauerkraut. Worms not only eat the flesh of the dead but also carry the memory.
Jim, love of kind makes all creatures worms.
Bear, a toast to the worm's granary!
Icy, a little ground beef is good to throw in there, too.
Quilly, which of us has a stomach as bold as heaven's simple nematode?
Then my work here is done, J.D.
I don't think so, Actonbell, you go ahead.
Cooper, Once upon a midnight dreary, as I pondered weak and weary there came a sound I could not hear. I couldn't answer for I was sleeping, but my guest continued creeping, 'twas a worm inside my ear.
Look, Coop, you're the one from Baltimore.
Karma, that was Ambrose Bierce, not I. He has already been worm's meat.
Once I found a worm curling about in my fresh sushi. I was grossed out. Now I always look before I bite.
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