The following poem was published in
The American Angler for July 1921. It was penned by Ruth Bassett Eddy, a poet of some note who published Altar Fires, a book of her best poems, in 1919. It's a charming piece.
Worms
By RUTH BASSETT EDDY
After the rain to-day,
I saw such lovely worms;
Such oozy ones and shiny ones,
Such crawly ones and slimy ones,
All full of crooks and turns.
And O, I sighed for rod and line
And trout streams far away.
For I had still in mind
That day we stopped to fish;
Close to the wood, the handy wood,
The barren wood, the sandy wood,
Where we for worms did wish:
The stream was all a stream should be.
But worms we could not find.
Our rod was useless quite;
Our appetites were keen.
We saw the trout, the speckled trout,
The silvered, gleaming, freckled trout.
As we above did lean.
But tho' we dug 'neath sand and stone,
A worm ne'er came in sight.
So when I saw to-day,
Upon the pavement there,
The sleek worms and the haughty ones.
The meek worms and the naughty ones,
I had to stand and swear.
What good are worms,
when rod and line
And streams are far away?
-- Dr. Todd
