Selected Works of Voltairine de Cleyre

Chipmunks three sat on a tree, And they were as green as green could be; They cracked nuts early, they cracked nuts late, And chirruped and chirruped, and ate and ate; "'Tis a pity of chipmunks without nuts, And a gnawing hunger in their guts; But they should be wise like you and me, And color themselves to suit the tree. Ah chee, ah chee, ah chee, ah chee! Gay chaps are we, we chipmunks three!"

An elephant white in sorry plight, Hungry and dirty and sad bedight, Straggled one day on the nutting ground; "Lo," chattered the chipmunks, "our chance is found! Behold the beast's color; were he as we, Green and sleek and nut-full were he! But the beast is big, and the beast is white, And his skin full of emptiness serves him right! Ah chee, ah chee, ah chee, ah chee! Let us 'sit on him, sit on him,' chipmunks three."

Three chipmunks green right gay were seen To leap on the beast his brows between; They munched at his ears and chiffered his chin, And sat and sat and sat on him! Not a single available spot of hide Where a well-sleeked chipmunk could sit with pride, But was chipped and chipped and chip-chip-munked, Till aught but an elephant must have flunked. "Ah chee, ah chee, ah chee, ah chee! What a ride we're having, we chipmunks three!"

"What was it blew? Ah whew, ah whew!" Three green chipmunks have all turned blue! The elephant smiles a peaceful smile, And lifts off a tree-trunk sans haste or guile. "Seize him, seize him! He's stealing our tree! We're undone, undone," shriek the chipmunks three. The elephant calmly upraised his trunk, And said, "Did I hear a green chipmunk?"

"Ah chee, ah chee, ah chee, ah choo!" "Chippy, you're blue!" "So're you!" "So're you!"

Germinal!--The Field of Mars is plowing, And hard the steel that cuts, and hot the breath Of the great Oxen, straining flanks and bowing Beneath his goad, who guides the share of Death.