A Puffin and an Albatross,

          Just sitting down to tea,

Were startled by the sound of Grunion

          Running up their tree.

“Oh dear!” exclaimed the Albatross.

          The Puffin said, “Oh me!”

 

“Now calm yourself,” the Puffin said

          (The calmer of the two)

And let us try and clear our heads

          And see what we must do.”

The Albatross just sat and sipped

          His tea out of his shoe.

         

Across the streaming river wide

          The Grunion slyly surged,

Then up the boughs till in the leaves

          Their heads were half submerged,

And tangled mid the silvery twigs

          Their twinkling toes converged.

 

“My word!” declared the Albatross

          In undulating tones,

“I fear we’ve been invaded

          By a flock of migrant Krones!”

The Puffin simply sat and picked

          Her teeth with chicken bones.

 

“Three lumps or five?” the Puffin cried

          As down the trunk she sped,

Colliding in collusion  

          With a fat policeman’s head.

“No, thank you,” croaked the Albatross,

          And promptly dropped down dead. 

 

 

  (With apologies to Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear)