Classic Poem

GEESE

Every child who has the use
Of his senses knows a goose.
Sees them underneath the tree
Gather round the goose-girl's knee,
While she reads them by the hour
From the works of Schopenhauer.
How patiently the geese attend!
But do they really comprehend
What Schopenhauer's driving at?
Oh, not at all; but what of that?
Neither do I; neither does she;
And, for that matter, nor does he.

A SEAL

See, children, the furbearing seal;
Observe his misdirected zeal;
He dines with most abstemious care
On Fish, Ice Water and Fresh Air
Avoiding condiments or spice
For fear his fur should not be nice
And fine and soft and smooth and meet
For Broadway or for Regent Street.
And yet some-how I often feel
(Though for the kind Furbearing Seal
I harbor a Respect Pro-found)
He runs Furbearance in the ground.

THE YAK

This is the yak, so negligee;
His coiffure's like a stack of hay;
He lives so far from Anywhere,
I fear the Yak neglects his hair,
And thinks, since there is none to see,
What matter how unkempt he be:
How would he feel if he but knew
That in this Picture-book I drew
His Physiognomy un-shorn,
For children to deride and scorn?

THE MONGOOS

This, children, is the famed mongoos.
He has an appetite abstruse:
Strange to relate, this creature takes
A curious joy in eating snakes —
All kinds — though, it must be confessed,
He likes the poisonous ones the best.
From him we learn how very small
A thing can bring about a Fall.
O Mongoos, where were you that day
When Mistress Eve was led astray?
If you'd but seen the serpent first,
Our parents would not have been cursed,
And so there would be no excuse
For M ILTON , but for you — Mongoos!