Niagara in a Teacup

LITTLE boys, any two,
Make a circus, make a zoo;

Sportive seals in constant cry
Sharply barking “What?” and
“Why?”

Wounded yelps and piercing joys
Pale the howler-baboon’s noise;

Monkey-restless, full of tricks.
Connoisseurs of stones and sticks,

Bottle caps and rusty nails,
Through the house they blaze their trails.

Barnum-Bailey, all compressed
To little space, with sound increased:

Set beside this giddy spate
Calliope is sweet, sedate.

Giraffe in reach and ape in chatter,
Pointless, endless — still, no matter.

Others for such pleasures pay,
Mothers have them free, each day!