The Funny Old Man

 

There was an old man who was lonely and grim

And excessively technically minded.

He lived with a cat and an owl that was fat

And a fancy new clock. He’d designed it.

Every hour it rang with a click and a bang

And was good for cooking up noodles.

While down deep inside it secretly fried

Sardines for wandering poodles.

Now poodles can be, as you really can see,

A difficult problem to deal with.

They’d walk in the gate, proliferate,

And snuffle their noses to feel with.

They’d chew up your shoes,

Which does not amuse

When you need them for running and walking.

A grimace won’t do

For a badly mauled shoe

It required action, not talking.

So the old man decided that when they’d collided

With furniture, floor lamps and footstools,

He’d chase them all out with a stomp and a shout

For not obeying his house rules.

He started his cry, when the sardines did fry

And the poodles, they yipped and ignored him.

They slavered for fish which popped out on a dish

And they ran as a pack and they floored him.

He sat up with a grin as they gobbled the fish

‘Cause they looked to him crazy and foolish.

And, he said “Hey, I’ll let them stay.

I may be old but not mulish.”

So they live there OK, in their own cockeyed way,

The owl, the cat and the poodles

And the funny old man who eats, when he can,

A rather large plate of cooked noodles