Old Snake-Doctor

I.     Once I found an ant-lion's hole     And an ant-lion in it: nippers     Like a pair of rusty clippers.     And I saw a red ant roll     In its pit, and, quick as Ned,     This old ant-lion fanged its head,     Held it till the ant was dead. II.     And I told my father: he     Smiled and said, "He beats the dickens,     With his pinchers; even chickens     Have n't his voracity.     Think now what he would have done     Had you been an ant, my son,     Fallen in that pit like one. III.     "Daniel in the lion's den!     Guess you'd come home good and gory.     But now here's another story:     You should see these ant-lions when     They have wings; and, blue and green,     Ponds and pools they fly between:     Prettiest things I've ever seen. IV.     "Look just like the dragonflies;     And perhaps they are snake-feeders;     Name you'll never find in Readers     Read at school: but, I surmise,     Dragonflies are not the same     As these old snake-doctors; name     For which I am not to blame. V.     "Who's to blame then? If it's not     I or, say, the dictionary,     Since we two seem so contrry,     Must be that old ant-lion what     Can't content itself, that's plain,     With its bug-estate; remain     Just a bug in sun and rain. VI.     "Has to get himself new clothes!     Gauzy wings that shine and glitter;     Something that he thinks is fitter     His profession, I suppose,     Doctoring things, like water-snakes;     Finery that often takes     Eyes of hungry ducks and drakes: VII.     "And of fishes, too, the fool.     Who his coat so bright and brassy,     Mirrored in the waters glassy,     Leap for, drag into the pool.     Old snake-doctor, flaunt your fill!     Feed the snakes or cure or kill     In the end you pay the bill."