I love to watch them sheathe themselves mid-air,
shut wings and ride the light’ s poor spine
to earth, to touch down in gutters, in the rainbowed
urine of suicides, just outside Bellevue’ s walls.
From in there the ransacked cadavers are carried
up the East River to Potter’ s Field
as if they were an inheritance,
gleaned of saveable parts,
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck
If a woodchuck could chuck wood?
As much wood as a woodchuck could chuck,
If a woodchuck could chuck wood.
Sing, cuccu, nu. Sing, cuccu.
Sing, cuccu. Sing, cuccu, nu.
Sumer is i-cumin in—
Lhude sing, cuccu!
Groweth sed and bloweth med
And springth the wude nu.
Sing, cuccu!
Awe bleteth after lomb,
Lhouth after calve cu,
Bulluc sterteth, bucke verteth—
Murie sing, cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu,
Wel singes thu, cuccu.
Ne swik thu naver nu!
Five brown eggs in a nest of hay,
One yellow chick popped out to play.
Four brown eggs in a nest of hay,
Another yellow chick cheep-cheeped Good day.
Three brown eggs in a nest of hay,
Crack went another one, Hip hooray.
Two brown eggs in a nest of hay,
One more chick pecked his shell away.
One brown egg in a nest of hay,
The last yellow chick popped out to say,
Happy Easter!
Little Robin Redbreast
Sat upon a rail;
Niddle noble went his head,
Widdle waggle went his tail.
Little Robin Redbreast
Came to visit me;
This is what he whistled,
Thank you for my tea.
Cock a doodle do!
My dame has lost her shoe,
My master's lost his fiddlestick,
And knows not what to do.
Cock a doodle do!
What is my dame to do?
Till master's found his fiddlingstick,
She'll dance without her shoe.
Cock a doodle do!
My dame has found her shoe,
And master's found his fiddlingstick,
Sing cock a doodle do!
Cock a doodle do!
My dame will dance with you,
While master fiddles his fiddlingstick,
And knows not what to do.
A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?
The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the robin do then, poor thing?
He'll sit on a twig,
And we'll feed him some bread,
And he'll sing to say 'Thank you, my friends',
Poor thing!
Goosey goosey gander,
Whither shall I wander?
Upstairs and downstairs
And in my lady's chamber.
There I met an old man
Who wouldn't say his prayers,
So I took him by his left leg
And threw him down the stairs.
Goosey, goosey, goosey, lay a golden egg for me!
Goosey, goosey, goosey, I want one for my tea!
I haven't had an egg since breakfast,
And now it's half-past three,
So goosey, goosey, goosey, lay a golden egg for me.
Goosey, goosey, goosey, lay a golden egg for me!
Goosey, goosey, goosey, I want one for my tea!
I haven't had an egg since breakfast,
And now it's half-past three,
So goosey, goosey, goosey, lay a golden egg for me.
