Getting Information Out of Pa

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My pa he didn’t go to town
  Last evening after tea,
But got a book and settled down
  As comfy as could be.
I’ll tell you I was offul glad
  To have my pa about
To answer all the things I had
  Been tryin’ to find out.

And so I asked him why the world
  Is round instead of square,
And why the piggies’ tails are curled,
  And why don’t fish breathe air?
And why the moon don’t hit a star,
  And why the dark is black,
And just how many birds there are,
  And will the wind come back?

And why does water stay in wells,
  And why do June bugs hum,
And what’s the roar I hear in shells,
  And when will Christmas come?
And why the grass is always green,
  Instead of sometimes blue,
And why a bean will grow a bean
  And not an apple, too?

And why a horse can’t learn to moo,
  And why a cow can’t neigh?
And do the fairies live on dew,
  And what makes hair grow gray—
And then my pa got up an’ gee!
  The offul words he said,
I hadn’t done a things, but he
  Jest sent me off to bed.

© Pierre Reverdy