Penguins and Star Stuff

Penguins and Star Stuff

Do you pick up a penguin by his wings or his feet
Or lure him inside by offering a treat?
Do you tease him and taunt him and spin him around
Or do you set him a'sailing and run him aground?

Do you pickle his feathers in olives and oil
Or cook him on stove top at medium boil?
Or do you just look and wish you could be
A penguin like Lester or a poet like me?

Do you see his tuxedo and laugh in his face
Or spray him with paint and his beauty disgrace?
Do you want a pet penguin to keep in your house
Or do you hate penguins? Are you that sort of louse?

You think his feet funny, you think them absurd
You think they look odd on this sort of a bird.
Yes the feet are quite different and different is good
Unless you make pancakes from knotty pine wood...

They would break off your teeth, and leave you in pain -
If you ate wooden pancakes you would not do it again.
But different is good, like my dear penguin friend Lester
Don't you dare hate him; please don't let that hate fester!

Love penguins and turkeys and all things that fly
(Except for mosquitoes and bugs in your eye.)
Love furry brown critters and slinky wet snakes;
But you don't have to love those wooden pancakes

Love sleegars and sloughers and slithering things,
Love wormies and beetles and Jupiter's rings,
Love workles and wurples and green, slimy slugs -
You should love every creature - yes even the bugs.

I'm sure Lester will love you if you love him too-
If you can't love old Lester than he cannot love you.
It's simple, it's easy, and it's a matter of fact
Don't speak evil things that you cannot retract.

You might hurt his feelings and then what would he do?
My black and white penguin would be woeful and blue.
Pick him up gently, grab him tight by the wings
And take him tomorrow to see beautiful things.

He will love you forever if you give him a fish
Yes, that is his one most enduring wish.
A fish for his breakfast, a fish for his lunch
A fish for his dinner and one he can munch.

There's not much more about penguins to know -
They will love you as much as they do ice and snow.
Be only gentle and if you kiss them enough
They'll love you forever and that kind of stuff.

Lester says "sorry" for now he must go,
Springtime is here and he misses the snow.
I already miss him as he waddles away....
But I know he'll be back some cold, winter day.

Thank you for listening but now that Lester has gone
I have to spread Turf Builder all over my lawn.
The beer's in the fridge, and my lawn chair is waiting
There's just no time left for procrastinating.

I will always love Lester, but I've got so much to do
I've got pancakes to make- maybe wooden ones too!
Yes the memories of Lester will fill up my head
As I pull the old John Deere out of my shed.

Look at the grass! It's so vibrant and green -
This spring is the greatest, the best that I've seen!
Lester didn't like it that's why he waddled today
Back to his ice floe so far, far away.

Tell me you love him, please tell me you do?
If you don't do it soon, I'll be teary and blue.
Don't give me cow eyes, please don't make me pine...
Say you love Lester - say those words so sublime!

So, do you pick up a penguin by his wings or his feet?
Do you like him because of the taste of his meat?
Or would you eat ham because the pig is so pretty?
Or would you avoid it because pigs are so dirty?

Life is much more than a series of questions
For so much is left to your mental discretions.
Penguins and people and all things on Earth
Are all made of star stuff and they all have their worth.

Tell us what you think - Please