Poem: The Fox and the Crow

A coal-black crow sits in a tree, 
A morsel of cheese in his beak has he. 
A fox slinks by as sly as you please, 
And cunningly plots how to get the cheese. 
  
“Oh how I admire your feathers so spry, 
The sheen of your tail and the glint of your eye, 
The elegant curve of your beak sharp and long - 
But would I could hear your sweet voice raised in song!” 
  
At this the crow’s flattered and quite taken in; 
To impress the fox further he will now begin. 
He throws back his head, and rasping and raw, 
He utters a raucous, cacophonous “Caw!” 
  
With beak all agape, the cheese tumbles out, 
The fox snaps it up in his long pointed snout. 
“Sing, Crow, your vanity, long as you please. 
You keep your song, and I’ll have the cheese!”

  

By Paul King

(After the Aesop fable)

poem: Acorn and Oak

“Oh I’ll never be big,” the acorn said 
As it gazed on high to the oak tree tall, 
“I’m little and round as a miller’s thumb, 
I’ll never be big, I’ll always be small.” 
  
The oak tree smiled a knowing smile, 
“My trunk is thick, and my roots are deep, 
My branches and twigs spread high and wide, 
For birds to nest in, and bugs to sleep. 
  
But I was an acorn too on a time, 
- ‘Oh I’ll never be big, I’ll never be strong,’- 
That’s what I thought many years ago... 
 And, dear little acorn, you see I was wrong!”

Paul King