Goofy

"A big ole goofy man, dancin' with a big ole goofy girl.  Oh, baby, it's a big old goofy world."  John Prine.  It sure is, isn't it?  My youngest daughter, Allie, in the throes of taking herself so very seriously at the beginning of her college career, like we all did, accused me of trying to act like a three year old.  Exactly.  Which makes me think of a poem my Aunt Betty used to recite.

The Pert Chicken by Marian Douglas

There was once a pretty chicken,
but his friends were very few,
for he thought that there was nothing
in the world but what he knew.
So he always in the farmyard,
had a very forward way,
telling all the hens and turkeys,
what they ought to do and say.
"Mrs.Goose", he said, "I wonder....
that your goslings you should let,
go out paddling in the water.
It will kill them to get wet."

"I wish, my old Aunt Dorking,"
he began to her one day,
"That you wouldn't sit all summer,
in your nest upon the hay.
Won't you come out to the meadow,
where the grass and seeds is filled?"
"If I should," said Mrs. Dorking,
Then my eggs would all get chilled."
 "No, they won't" replied the chicken,
and no matter if they do.
eggs are really good for nothing.
What's an egg to me or you?"

"What's an egg?" said Mrs. Dorking.
"Can it be you do not know?
You yourself were in an eggshell,
just one little month ago?
And if kind wings had not warmed you,
you would not be out today,
telling hens and geese and turkeys,
what they ought to do and say!"

"To be very wise, and show it,
is a pleasant thing, no doubt.
But when young folks talk to old folks,
they should know what they're about."

There's not much new someone hasn't already figured out, here in this big old goofy world, but this goofy old girl is looking at it like a three year old and it is way fun.