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The Black Riders & Other Lines/A man toiled on a burning road

From Wikisource
A man toiled on a burning road
by Stephen Crane

This poem was published in 1905 in the volume The Black Rider & Other Lines.

4292A man toiled on a burning roadStephen Crane

A man toiled on a burning road,
Never resting.
Once he saw a fat, stupid ass
Grinning at him from a green place.
The man cried out in rage,
"Ah! Do not deride me, fool!
I know you --
All day stuffing your belly,
Burying your heart
In grass and tender sprouts:
It will not suffice you."
But the ass only grinned at him from the green place.