Don't ever grab
old crusty crab
because
with all those claws
he'll maybe grab you first
and you'll come off the worst!
I knew a small boy long ago
o long and long and long ago
whose mother said she did not know
just where the crab's eyes were: and so
he pointed with his finger, and
that crab politely took his hand
as if to say let's take a walk
and have a talk
upon this lovely seaside wharf:
and had to be flung off:
but on his finger left a dent
that lasted days before it went.
He doesn't sing he isn't mean
in fact he keeps the water clean
by eating up the scraps galore
that litter up the ocean's floor:
and if at times he can be vicious
remember he is so nutritious
and O in soups delicious!
(Perhaps it's mean
to mention a tureen.)
Old crusty crab, all claws no head,
he scuttles on the ocean bed
but never said
or so I've heard
a single crusty
or crustacean
word.
-Conrad Aiken