George Simmers : Four Poems for Alice

Oh happy is the hippo who is fast asleep.
His snoring is enormous but his dreams are deep.
He dreams he’s young and handsome and he’s living in a palace
And he loves a perfect princess who’s as beautiful as Alice.
In his dream he’s light and lively; he can dance and he can leap.
So don’t disturb a hippo who is happily asleep.

The Moon goes round the Earth;
The Earth goes round the Sun.
Mum and Dad have gone round the pub
And the kids are having fun.

They've had a war in the garden,
And come in covered in mud,
So they've learned to use the washing machine
Which is why there's a bit of a flood.

But it isn't the end of the world, you know,
When all is said and done,
And the moon's still going around the Earth,
While the earth goes round the sun.

Oh it must be grim to be an owl
Who nests in winter trees,
Where icicles hang from his beak
And his feathers freeze.

I asked an owl I happened to meet
One day in an owlery:
“Now don't you really wish you were
A human, just like me?”

He laughed: “What a silly question!
I'd not consider it twice.
Poor humans have no wings to fly,
And they never taste raw mice.”

Jim the Bear reads poems
In fields where flowers grow wild.
His very favourite poem
Is about a human child.

Her name is Alice, and she knows
A poem about Jim
Reading a poem about herself
Knowing one about him,

Who knows a poem all about her...
Which confuses his bearish brain,
But he rather likes the feeling,
So he reads the poem again.