How sweetly doth

How sweetly doth the crocodile
enrobe his cunning nose
with cummerbunds of pearly white
and ribands made of rose!

He carefully adorns it
at the breaking of each day;
and bitterly doth mourn it
when a riband goes astray.

And O! the subtle reptile,
whilst at rest and whilst at play,
ensures his nose is toasty warm,
and beautiful, and gay.

And though tenderly ensuring
that his cummerbund is fix’d
with pins and twine and sealing wax,
his reception, it is mixed:

For though his nose is twisted ’round
with cummerbunds and stuff,
the fishes in the fishpond say
“His teeth are sharp enough!”