The Ape.

A poem by Jean de La Fontaine

There is an ape in Paris,
To which was given a wife:
Like many a one that marries,
This ape, in brutal strife,
Soon beat her out of life.
Their infant cries, - perhaps not fed, -
But cries, I ween, in vain;
The father laughs: his wife is dead,
And he has other loves again,
Which he will also beat, I think, -
Return'd from tavern drown'd in drink.

For aught that's good, you need not look
Among the imitative tribe;
A monkey be it, or what makes a book -
The worse, I deem - the aping scribe.