For Doctor Thomas Eliot¹

Why should the ageing Whale spread fin

Except in tribute to his kin?

For of the larger ruminants

The next to Whale is Elephants

And Elephants of forty-nine

Deserve the effort of a line.²

Whale’s tributes have been rarer since

A long-ago experience

When God elected to do good

By overwhelming all in Flood

Excepting those inside the Ark³

Which left Whale outside in the dark.

Since then, though Ark was soon unloaded

And Elephants, though maybe goaded,

Have grace to know where there is light,

Whale travels slowly through the night

Not much revolving past his window

Except the salt, and what dead men do.⁴

Whale mostly greets dead men pro tem.,

Because he has the pick of them,

Yet Elephant, while he is lively

Is good as dead, comparatively,

And Elephants of fifty will

Have earned a greater tribute still.