As if reminded--or as if perhaps
Within a million years of an idea
He got his purple little knuckles stung
The already known had once more been confirmed
By psychological experiment
And that were all the finding to announce
Had the boy not presumed too close and long
There was a sudden flash of arm, a snatch
And the glass was the monkey's, not the boy's
Precipitately they retired back-cage
And instituted an investigation
On their part, though without the needed insight
They bit the glass and listened for the flavor
They broke the handle and the binding off it
Then none the wiser, frankly gave it up
And having hid it in their bedding straw
Poet and critic Clive James gives this line as an example of a “poetic moment,” which can, for better or for worse, overwhelm the unity of a poem: “The moment is so good that the way it serves the poem to perfection is only part of its appeal: once we know about the monkeys and the burning-glass, the line becomes memorable on its own.”  Poetry Notebook
At Woodwards Gardens