By day the bat is cousin to the mouse.
He likes the attic of an aging house.
His fingers make a hat about his head.
His pulse beat is so slow we think him dead.
He loops in crazy figures half the night
Among the trees that face the corner light.
But when he brushes up against a screen,
We are afraid of what our eyes have seen:
For something is amiss or out of place
When mice with wings can wear a human face.
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batss
From guest schoolgrl (contact)
Well, I think that he is maybe talking from a childhood expirence. Maybe he has a phobia of bats or something. But i really like the comment someone posted about how this poem's about how humans feel threatened-that rocked!!!..... p.s. apparently bats are kind creatures..'cept for the bloodsucking factor. -
It seems to me...
From guest M. Ohlsson (contact)
If the bat by day is cousin to the mouse, then by night it is cousin to humans--frightening, threatening, and malicious-looking. It is transformed by night into something resembling a vicious human--an object of fear. -
From guest ariel (contact)
well im in high school and i had to study this poem and if you dig deeper into really what this poem is about you will see that he is not talking about a bat att all he is referring to a vampire, as quoted by the last line in this poem " When mice with wings can wear a human face." he is talking a bout a vampire not a bat, if you don't agree with ma then talk to my english teacher. -
I think this is actually about a bat and how humans are threatened by their own basic animal instincts when they are confronted by just how human other animals sometimes can look.
I grew up with bats. They are just as he describes them. -
Hmmm. I don't really think this about a real bat at all. eep in mind the last line "can wear a human face". I think the author was trying to tell us that maybe a woman was the reasoning for this poem. It describes the bat as being a scarry creature then he says human face i think it's about maybe an exwife or lover. I dont know just my opinion
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Really cool poem.
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That is so true. I saved a bat once in Panama, set it outside
the screen, and though they are noctural creatures, he showed
up the next daylight on my screen, as if to say thankyou.
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