An Ode to Childhood

by Etta Stallings

All the lines have been written
It's sad but it's true
With all the words gone,
What's a young poet to do?

    There's been Sandburg,
    Keats, Poe and McKuen
    They all had their day
    And knew what they're doin'

But of all the words written
And all the lines read,
There's one I like most,
And by a bird it was said!

    The bird is a strange one,
    So small and so tender
    Its breed still unknown,
    Not to mention its gender.

It reminds me of days of
Both gloom and of light.
It still lifts my spirits
And starts the day right.

    So what is this line
    Whose author's unknown
    And still makes me giggle
    Even now that I'm grown?

I've read all the greats
Both starving and fat,
But none was as great as
"I tot I taw a puddy tat."

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