Last year, starting in August, I gave you each month's stanza of Maurice Sendak's Chicken Soup with Rice. The year has passed, so I decided to trot out some of my other favorite poems for you. I've loved this one since I was very, very young. It was always silly to me, the thought of an owl and a pussy cat in a boat, and a piggy-wig in the wood. The lilt of the poem is a delight to read and hear in your mind. I suppose it was in the spirit of the silliness of last year's poem that I picked this one to give you first.
The Owl and the
Pussy-Cat
I
The Owl and the
Pussy-cat went to sea
In
a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some
honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped
up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up
to the stars above,
And
sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely
Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You
are,
You
are!
What a beautiful
Pussy you are!"
II
Pussy said to the
Owl, "You elegant fowl!
How
charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be
married! too long we have tarried:
But
what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away,
for a year and a day,
To
the land where the Bong-Tree grows
And there in a wood
a Piggy-wig stood
With
a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With
a ring at the end of his nose.
III
"Dear Pig, are
you willing to sell for one shilling
Your
ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it
away, and were married next day
By
the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on
mince, and slices of quince,
Which
they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand,
on the edge of the sand,
They
danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the
light of the moon.
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