Dirty Beasts

We fairly raced across the sky,

The Roly-Poly Bird and I,

And landed safely just beyond

The fringes of the lily-pond.

When I got home I never told

A solitary single soul

What I had done or where I’d been

Or any of the things I’d seen.

I did not even say I rode

Upon a giant jumping toad,

’Cause if I had, I knew that they

Would not believe me anyway.

But you and I know well it’s true.

We know I jumped, we know I flew.

We’re sure it all took place, although

Not one of us will ever know,

We’ll never, never understand

Why children go to Wonderland.

The Tummy Beast

One afternoon I said to mummy,

“Who is this person in my tummy?

“He must be small and very thin

“Or how could he have gotten in?”

My mother said from where she sat,

“It isn’t nice to talk like that.”

“It’s true!” I cried. “I swear it, mummy!

“There is a person in my tummy!

“He talks to me at night in bed,

“He’s always asking to be fed,

“Throughout the day, he screams at me,