The Rivals

Said the Bicycle to the Automobile:         "How high and mighty and gay you feel;         Yet I can remember the day when I         Would let no other one pass me by         Cart horse and roadster and racehorse too,         Far ahead of them all I flew.         Now my tires are unpumped and my warning bell         The attention of nobody can compel.         "Though you maim your thousands where I hurt one,         Though ten times my farthest is your day's run,         Still I have been learning while lying here,         That a rival's coming for you to fear.         I have heard them talk of a wonderful thing,         That can fly in the air like a bird on the wing,         That can carry a man over land, over sea;         In a twinkling he is where he wishes to be.         "So swiftly it speeds, in a week and a day         One may girdle the globe, I have heard them say,         While you are contented from dawn to dark         With a few score miles to have made your mark."         The giant, throughout his quivering frame,         Felt the truth that was mixed with his rival's blame.         "I'll never be such a clod as you,"         He sputtered as off on the road he flew;         And his end the Bicycle never knew.