BUGBEARS

The only thing you have to fear is, well,
Many things—I grant you there is cause
For apprehension everywhere we dwell,
And Nature’s beasts are red in teeth and claws;

So, yes, there’s real danger to avoid,
And careful caution is a prudent course
Lest what you love and value be destroyed,
And your improvidence cause you remorse.

But yet almost as bad is paranoid
Delusion that in every bush detects
A bear, takes firefly for asteroid,
And in a whispered comment hears a hex.

     The saddest thing you have to fear may be
     The consequence of your anxiety.

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