The Proud Old Cochin

The Proud Old Cochin
2722

There was a fat old Cochin hen
Vainglorious and proud:
And every time she laid an egg
She cackled long and loud
One day she found a goose egg in
The bottom of her nest;
And thinking she had laid it there,
She did her level best
She cackled, cackled-all the Spring,
The Summer, and the Fall;
She cackled through the Winter-and
She never stopped at all
She cackled on; until, at last
Of rest and sleep bereft,
She was a walking skeleton
With but the cackle left
-J B Naylor