The King-Fisher Song
U. Grahn
King Fisher courted Lady Bird -
Sing Beans, sing Bones, sing Butterflies!
'Find me my match,' he said,
'With such a noble head --
With such a beard, as white as curd --
With such expressive eyes!'
'Yet pins have heads,' said Lady Bird --
Sing Prunes, sing Prawns, sing Primrose-Hill!
'And, where you stick them in,
They stay, and thus a pin
Is very much to be preferred
To one that's never still!'
'Oysters have beards,' said Lady Bird --
Sing Flies, sing Frogs, sing Fiddle-strings!
'I love them, for I know
They
never chatter so:
They would not say one single word --
Not if you crowned them Kings!'
'Needles have eyes,' said Lady Bird --
Sing Cats, sing Corks, sing Cowslip-tea!
'And they are sharp -- just what
Your Majesty is
not:
So get you gone -- 'tis too absurd
To come a-courting
me
!'