Some balloons grow on trees.
If they grow too fast
And are not gathered every day
The infants stand aghast
To see them tear up by the roots
The trees on which they grew
And scatter dirt on the front walk
And disappear from view
Into the blue.
BABYLON’S GARDENS ARE BURNING
There, on the shores of the river Euphrates,
Babylon’s gardens are burning this morning.
Prophets warned,
Prophets prophesied,
But no one in Babylon heeded the warning.
IN THE BEAUTY PARLORS
A jumbo so vain, and fond of his shape
Had himself beautified by a gray ape,
Tattooed and gilded with elegant signs,
The latest and merriest monkey designs.
Then the ape rode the jumbo
And made the land gape,
As he sat at his ease in the elephant chair.
He had tattooed himself with designs from a shawl,
And he gathered a grape with a self-possessed air,
And threw down a twig at another fine ape.
