An impossible dream.
A young snail called Joe
Was so terribly slow;
He wished he could slither much faster.
Though he tried some improvements
To speed up his movements,
It was something poor Joe couldn’t master.
He thought, “If a bird,
Like a thrush, ever heard
How terribly slowly I slide,
He would peck me; and then
He would peck me again,
And I’d end up inside his inside.”
But then, in a dream,
Joe thought up a scheme
Which he couldn’t get out of his mind:
“If I had two feet,
I could whiz down the street
And leave all my snail friends behind!”
And, what do you know –
He started to grow
One more slimy foot! “That makes two!,”
Said Joe. “Well I never,
That’s ever so clever,
I wonder what else I can do.”
In his dream, he thought, “Why
Cannot snails like me fly?”
And the moment he thought it, he found
He’d sprouted some things
That looked just like wings,
So he flapped them and flew all around!
“Whoopee,” shouted Joe
As he zoomed past a crow.
“I wish I could fly to the stars!”
At once, from his shell
Grew a rocket. “Farewell,”
Shouted Joe, as he shot off to Mars.
When he landed, he found
That the red Martian ground
Wasn’t what he had thought it would be:
There was nothing alive.
“I shall never survive!”
Cried poor Joe. “What is happening to me?”
Just then Joe awoke,
And his Mummy snail spoke:
“Why, Joe, you’ve been dreaming, you know!”
Said Joe, “I’ve been flying!
But there’s no denying
I think I would rather be slow!”