The Animal Book

I woke today with a bump on my head.
I must have fallen out of bed!

I stood at the mirror on the bathroom wall.
And I didn’t shout and I didn’t bawl

But I started and stared a moment or two
Before I exclaimed, ‘I don’t know you?! ’

Back in my bed I reached for the shelf
And picked out a book … in search of myself!

This page had a sketch of a spouting whale
And there on the next slid a slimy snail.

‘But I’m not any of these’, said I.
I’m not a snail or spider or fly;

I’m not that dove or this beautiful beaver;
I’m not a mouse or a bird called a weaver;

I’m not a snake or a fox or a bat;
I’m not a tiger as fierce as all that;

I’m not a goose, or giraffe or gnu;
I’m not a hippo come down with the flu!

I’m not an ostrich with its head in the sand;
I’m not an albatross miles from land.

At last I came to the book’s final page
And I didn’t cry and I didn’t rage –

A boy sat laughing under a tree
So I laughed back - that boy was me!!

So I can be found in the animal book.
I’ve marked the page where you can look

And I’ve left it safely under your bed
Should you wake one day with a bump on your head!