IMAGINATION

Oncet, when I was a gret big man, I got mad at the way

Ol’ nurses bossed the childruns an’ so I would n't stay;

I jest got up and PUSHED MY HOUSE right over — yes, I did;

An’ then I turned the streets all round, and runned away and hid!

When I come back, my childruns was cryin’ awful loud,

Fer nobody knowed wher they lived, an’ there was such a crowd.

I says, “Now, folks must shet their eyes — do n't open them a crack!” —

An’ then I straightened out the streets, an’ put the houses back.

‘ N oncet I was a NELUPHANT, as big as all outdoors,

‘ N every time I turned around it shook the roofs and floors;

I walked down to the river, and I drunk it up — ALL up,

Jest like it was some cambric tea in my ol’ silver cup.

An’ when the people come fer me, I jest set down, kerplunk!

An’ squashed‘ em flat — an’ picked them up — an’ packed‘ em in my trunk!

‘ N then I TWIST MY TRUNK OFF, an’ throwed it all away —

You better let me go, Louise — I MIGHT do that to-day!

You wo n't? All right — you'd BETTER DID, for one time long ago,

Before I gotter be a boy, I was a BEAR — oh, no —

I was a SNAKE — a yaller snake, an’ I was TEN MILES long,

‘ N all I et was nurse girls — yes, I DID, although‘ twas wrong.

That was a million years ago, but something — inside me —

Tells me I'm goin’ to be a snake AGAIN — jest watch and see!

You do n't believe a word I say? Well, I do n't care — I DO —

How could I‘ MEMBER all these things, unlessen they was true?