RED ROOSTERRed rooster in your gray coop,O stately creature with tail-feathers red and blue,Yellow and black,You have a comb gay as a paradeOn your head:You have pearl trinketsOn your feet:The short feathers smooth along your backAre the dark color of wet rocks,Or the rippled green of shipsWhen I look at their sides through water.I don’t know how you happened to be madeSo proud, so foolish,Wearing your coat of many colors,Shouting all day long your crooked words,Loud… sharp… not beautiful!HILDA CONKLING
Red rooster in your gray coop,O stately creature with tail-feathers red and blue,Yellow and black,You have a comb gay as a paradeOn your head:You have pearl trinketsOn your feet:The short feathers smooth along your backAre the dark color of wet rocks,Or the rippled green of shipsWhen I look at their sides through water.I don’t know how you happened to be madeSo proud, so foolish,Wearing your coat of many colors,Shouting all day long your crooked words,Loud… sharp… not beautiful!
HILDA CONKLING