Classic Poem

Come forth from thy oozy couch,
 O Ornithorhyncus dear!
And greet with a cordial claw
 The stranger that longs to hear

From thy own lips the tale
 Of thy origin all unknown:
Thy misplaced bone where flesh should be
 And flesh where should be bone;

And fishy fin where should be paw,
 And beaver-trowel tail,
And snout of beast equip'd with teeth
 Where gills ought to prevail.

Come, Kangaroo, the good and true!
 Foreshortened as to legs,
And body tapered like a churn,
 And sack marsupial, i' fegs,

And tell us why you linger here,
 Thou relic of a vanished time,
When all your friends as fossils sleep,
 Immortalized in lime!