Strange beauty, eight-limbed and eight-handed,
Whence camest to dazzle our eyes,
With thy bosom bespangled and banded,
With the hues of the seas and the skies?
Is thy name European or Asian,
Oh mystical monster marine,
Part molluscous and partly crustacean,
Betwixt and between?
Wast thou born to the sound of sea-trumpets?
Hast thou eaten and drunk to excess