The woodlouse looks as if he were
A mediæval knight,
Who's found it wiser not to keep
His armour very bright.
Experience has taught him, too,
To curl up like a pill
When danger seems to threaten him,
And then keep very still.
This trick has often been the means
Of saving him from hurt;
Because his foes mistake him for
A little lump of dirt.
Just as the enemy must find
Our soldiers hard to see
When they are lying on the ground
All clad in dull khakí.
Notes
1] woodlouse: a louse found in old wood or under stones and characteristically rolling itself up into a ball.
16] khakí: from the Urdu word 'dusty', dull yellow-brown cloth used in uniforms of British troops in South Africa in 1899.
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