Tails

Alan Alexander Milne 1882 – 1956



A lion has a tail and a very fine tail,
And so has an elephant, and so has a whale,
And so has a crocodile, and so has a quail–
  They’ve all got tails but me.

If I had sixpence I would buy one;
I’d say to the shopman, ‘Let me try one’;
I’d say to the elephant, ‘This is my one.’
  They’d all come round to see.

Then I’d say to the lion, ‘Why, you’ve got a tail!
And so has the elephant, and so has the whale!
And, look! There’s a crocodile! He’s got a tail!
  You’ve all got tails like me!’

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 09, 2023

32 sec read
220

Quick analysis:

Scheme AAAB CCCB AAAB
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 522
Words 108
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4

Alan Alexander Milne

Alan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work. more…

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    "Tails" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/264/tails>.

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