There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared! --
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!"
NOTE: This poem no. 1 of Lear’s The Book of Nonsense.
a hawk screeches
somewhere in the valley,
but remains unseen.
a vulture soars,
riding the updraft and
sniffing for Death.
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
a pond in summer:
ducks look like wooden toys,
drifting leisurely.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 