HIDE & SNAKE
hiss! hiss! hiss!
Chrissy shan’t miss
her pet snake.
It slithered and it wriggled
— along —
— long —
— on —
that wicked fellow John.
It looked at her longingly,
Chrissy’s pet snake
hiss hiss! he he!
She hit it with a broom —
— in the living-room,
Chrissy’s pet snake.
‘For Pete’s sake!’
(for that was his name)
‘You’ve squashed his brain!’
I appealed to her better nature.
‘Tish-pish!’ Though not deterred a jot.
‘I should have shot
both you and the snake,’
she hissed to me.
ha ha! he he!
Chrissy shan’t miss
her pet snake.
hiss hiss!
bah! humbug!
These dark days I hide in the cupboard
Away from the living-room.
Sure as Hell Chrissy don’t miss —
Her pet snake. [1997]
***