Poetry Friday - Hippo's Hope by Shel Silverstein

My son helped me select the poem this Friday; Hippo’s Hope by Shel Silverstein. We really enjoyed the alternate endings (wish he had written some for The Giving Tree ... a book that, though beautiful, always makes me sad)

Which one would you pick? My son picked the unhappy ending. My daughter and I were both chickens.

Hippo's Hope by Shel Silverstein

There once was a hippo who wanted to fly
--Fly-hi-dee, try-hi-dee, my-hi-dee-ho.
So he sewed him some wings that could flap through the sky
--Sky-hi-dee, fly-hi-dee, why-hi-dee-go.

He climbed to the top of a mountain of snow
--Snow-hi-dee, slow-hi-dee, oh-hi-dee-hoo.
With the clouds high above and the sea down below
--Where-hi-dee, there-hi-dee, scare-hi-dee-boo.

(Happy ending)

And he flipped and he flapped and he bellowed so loud
--Now-hi-dee, loud-hi-dee, proud-hi-dee-poop.
And he sailed like an eagle, off into the clouds
--High-hi-dee, fly-hi-dee, bye-hi-dee-boop.

(Unhappy ending)

And he leaped like a frog and he fell like a stone
--Stone-hi-dee, lone-hi-dee, own-hi-dee-flop.
And he crashed and he drowned and broke all his bones
--Bones-hi-dee, moans-hi-dee, groans-hi-dee-glop.

(Chicken ending)

He looked up at the sky and looked down at the sea
--Sea-hi-dee, free-hi-dee, whee-hi-dee-way.
And he turned and went home and had cookies and tea
--That's hi-dee, all hi-dee, I have to say.

More poems by Shel Silverstein here.

Round up today is at Anastasia’s Picture book of the day

* Picture of hippo from flickr creative commons by monettenriquez