During a visit once to a physician
I complained of the consistency of my stool
And the medical man expressed indignation
That I had broached so foul a topic

And you Honored Reader may feel
A similar offense at my oversharing here
In this palace of the muse
And you may deplore this age of disclosure

All bruit their dirty secrets about
As for example points of anatomy
As for example certain bodily functions
And the sad malfunctions of the spirit

Vertebrates possess an alimentary canal
In worms and mollusks too a one-way street runs
From ingestion to excretion
So different from the coelenterate cul de sac

So different from vegetable placidity
Alchemy of earth and water and sun
To generate the life-giving air
The life-giving food for those incapable

We animals embarked upon a different course
The course of cunning
To brace together to defend against attack
To strategize the charge of the predatory band

The fear of death seems a childish indulgence
For humans the brainiest of the bunch
But this perhaps explains our coprophobia
That I in time will be no longer me