The Bagpipe Who Didn’t Say No
It was nine o'clock at midnight at a quarter after three
When a turtle met a bagpipe on the shoreside by the sea,
And the turtle said, 'My dearie,
May I sit with you? I'm weary.'
And the bagpipe didn't say no.
Said the turtle to the bagpipe, 'I have walked this lonely shore,
I have talked to waves and pebbles--but I've never loved before.
Will you marry me today, dear?
Is it 'No' you're going to say dear?'
But the bagpipe didn't say no.
Said the turtle to his darling, 'Please excuse me if I stare,
But you have the plaidest skin, dear,
And you have the strangest hair.
If I begged you pretty please, love,
Could I give you just one squeeze, love?'
And the bagpipe didn't say no.
Said the turtle to the bagpipe, 'Ah, you love me. Then confess!
Let me whisper in your dainty ear and hold you to my chest.'
And he cuddled her and teased her
And so lovingly he squeezed her.
And the bagpipe said, 'Aaooga.'
Said the turtle to the bagpipe, 'Did you honk or bray or neigh?
For 'Aaooga' when your kissed is such a heartless thing to say.
Is it that I have offended?
Is it that our love is ended?'
And the bagpipe didn't say no.
Said the turtle to the bagpipe, 'Shall i leave you, darling wife?
Shall i waddle off to Woedom? Shall i crawl out of your life?
Shall I move, depart and go, dear--
Oh, I beg you tell me 'No' dear!'
But the bagpipe didn't say no.
So the turtle crept off crying and he ne'er came back no more,
And he left the bagpipe lying on that smooth and sandy shore.
And some night when tide is low there,
Just walk up and say, 'Hello, there,'
And politely ask the bagpipe if this story's really so.
I assure you, darling children, the bagpipe won't say 'No.'
poem by Sheldon Allan Silverstein
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Twelve highlanders and a bagpipe make a rebellion.
The bagpipe never utters a work till its belly is full.
A customary railer is the devil's bagpipe, which the world danceth after.
My Turtle Use to Rush!
You taught my turtle how to walk on a leash.
When you babysat my turtle.
But now my turtle's mood,
Has become distant and cranky.
My beloved turtle now gives me shifty looks.
And I know with me it's angry.
Since the babysitter I picked and booked.
When my turtle use to hear me turn the key,
At the front door.
My turtle use to rush to me.
But no more!
You've got my turtle trained to believe,
It needs a leash...
To eat with me Chinese.
And I use to love how my turtle ate Wonton.
But from within its shell...
All it does is just peek on.
When my turtle use to hear me turn the key,
At the front door.
My turtle use to rush to me.
But no more!
My turtle use to rush!
But!
No,
More!
My turtle use to rush!
But!
No,
More!
My turtle use to rush!
But!
No,
More to me.
My turtle use to rush!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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When you've heard one bagpipe tune, you've heard them both.
quote by Jack Finney
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Syrinx
Pan's Syrinx was a girl indeed,
Though now she's turned into a reed;
From that dear reed Pan's pipe does come,
A pipe that strikes Apollo dumb;
Nor flute, nor lute, nor gittern can
So chant it as the pipe of Pan:
Cross-gartered swains and dairy girls,
With faces smug and round as pearls,
When Pan's shrill pipe begins to play,
With dancing wear out night and day;
The bagpipe's drone his hum lays by,
When Pan sounds up his minstrelsy;
His minstrelsy! O base! this quill,
Which at my mouth with wind I fill,
Puts me in mind, though her I miss,
That still my Syrinx' lips I kiss.
May Day Customs
I have seen the Lady of the May
Set in an arbour, on a holiday,
Built by the May-pole, where the jocund swains
Dance with the maidens to the bagpipe's strains,
When envious night commands them to be gone
Call for the merry youngsters one by one,
And for their well performance soon disposes:
To this a garland interwove with roses,
To that a carvèd hook or well-wrought scrip,
Gracing another with her cherry lip;
To one her garter, to another then
A handkerchief cast o'er and o'er again;
And none returneth empty that hath spent
His pains to fill their rural merriment.
poem by William Browne
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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The King Of Bores
Abundant bores afflict this world, and some
Are bores of magnitude that-come and-no,
They're always coming, but they never go
Like funeral pageants, as they drone and hum
Their lurid nonsense like a muffled drum,
Or bagpipe's dread unnecessary flow.
But one superb tormentor I can show
Prince Fiddlefaddle, Duc de Feefawfum.
He the johndonkey is who, when I pen
Amorous verses in an idle mood
To nobody, or of her, reads them through
And, smirking, says he knows the lady; then
Calls me sly dog. I wish he understood
This tender sonnet's application too.
poem by Ambrose Bierce
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Yertle The Turtle
On a far away island
of Salamasond
Yertle the turtle
Was king of the pond
A nice little pond
It was clean it was neat
The water was warm
There was plenty to eat
Until one day
The king of them all
Decided the kingdom
He ruled was too small
I'm a ruler of all that I see
But I don't see enough
And that's the trouble with me
With this stone for a throne
I am too low down
I cannot look down
Upon the places beyond
So Yertle the turtle king
Lifted his hand
And Yertle the turtle king
Lifted his hand
He ordered all the turtles
Onto one another's back
He piled them high
Into a ten turtle stack
I'm Yertle the turtle
The things I now rule
I'm king of a cow
I'm king of a mule
Then down from below
In the great turtle stack
Came a burp from a plain
Little turtle named Mack
Just part of the throne
This burpin' little turtle
Looked up and said "I beg
Your pardon king Yertle"
I've pains in my back
My shoulders and my knees
How long must we stand
Here your majesty
"Silence !" the king of the
Turtles barked back
To the bad burpin'
Little turtle named Mack
I'm Yertle the turtle
Oh marvelous me for
I am ruler of all that I see
Yertle
song performed by by Red Hot Chili Peppers from Freaky Styley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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If I Were A Turtle
if i were a turtle
and if you are a turtle too
how i wish to live with you
and be happy
and understand
our turtleness together
perhaps in a small pond
a small patch of marsh
a little rock
just for the two of us
but i am not a turtle
i am a man
but
i may still live with you
as a man
and take care of you
as a turtle
this is still the world
for us
in humanity
in turtleness together
why not?
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Turtle
I want to get with your turtle.
Your turtle seems so at peace,
At a slow pace that really creeps.
Taking everything easy.
I want to chat with your turtle.
I want to ask if it has wishes to be free?
And if a turtle gets relief.
So thick its shell!
With skin so reptile-ish.
Does it ever want a hug or kiss?
And 'how' does it handle this?
So rich it smells!
In a pot cooked with mustard seed.
With carrots and celery leaves.
And a dash of sea salt spiced with peppers!
Does it know that its good to eat?
I want to get with your turtle.
Your turtle seems so at peace,
At a slow pace that really creeps.
Taking everything easy.
So thick its shell!
With skin so reptile-ish.
Does it ever want a hug or kiss?
And 'how' does it handle this?
I want to chat with your turtle.
I want to ask if it has wishes to be free?
And if a turtle gets any relief...
To be away and out of that shell!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Usual Story...
and then the problem comes
after the meeting of the
the turtle and the rabbit
after the winning and the losing
to each priority
the rabbit to the bushes
to the river the turtle goes
there is no saying that
after all, the warning is given
personally, the rabbit will
always remember
and so does the turtle
there is no point of reconciliation
the facts of life are here again
nothing to lose nothing to gain.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Timmy The Turtle
Timmy the Turtle
Ya know he was Tim
Timmy the Turtle
He sang for The Grim
Timmy the Turtle
Ya know he was Tim
Timmy the Turtle
Timmy the Turtle
Ya know he was Tim
Timmy the Turtle
He sang for The Grim
Timmy the Turtle
Ya know he was Tim
Timmy the Turtle
Too slow
He sat in turtle goo
Timmy the Turtle
He's givin 'em hell
Timmy the Turtle
He's out of his shell
Timmy the Turtle
He's givin' 'em hell
He's Timmy the Turtle
Timmy the Turtle
He's givin' 'em hell
Timmy the Turtle
He's out of his shell
Timmy the Turtle
He's givin' 'em hell
Timmy the Turtle
Too slow
He sat in turtle goo
song performed by by NOFX
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Turtle Teachers
TURTLE TEACHERS
Having laid her eggs upon a distant beach,
the turtle hurries quickly to the friendly ocean;
she cannot navigate the land, like those who teach,
producing mirror images for self-promotion.
A turtle may spend no more than an hour on a beach where she lays her eggs and then abandon her eggs, returning to the ocean.
3/30/08
poem by Gershon Hepner
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Turtle
The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal its sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile.
poem by Ogden Nash
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Shepherd Piping To The Fishes
A Shepherd seeking with his Lass
To shun the Heat of Day;
Was seated on the shadow'd Grass,
Near which a flowing Stream did pass,
And Fish within it play.
The Phillis he an Angle gave,
And bid her toss the Line;
For sure, quoth he, each Fish must have,
Who do's not seek to be thy Slave,
A harder Heart than mine.
Assemble here you watry Race,
Transportedly he cries;
And if, when you behold her Face,
You e'er desire to quit the Place,
You see not with my Eyes.
But you, perhaps, are by the Ear,
More easie to be caught;
If so, I have my Bagpipe here,
The only Musick that's not dear,
Nor in great Cities bought.
So sprightly was the Tune he chose,
And often did repeat;
That Phillis, tho' not up she rose,
Kept time with every thrilling Close,
And jigg'd upon her Seat.
But not a Fish wou'd nearer draw,
No Harmony or Charms,
Their frozen Blood, it seems, cou'd thaw,
Nor all they heard, nor all they saw
Cou'd woo them to such Terms.
The angry Shepherd in a Pett,
Gives o'er his wheedling Arts,
And from his Shoulder throws the Net,
Resolv'd he wou'd a Supper get
By Force, if not by Parts.
Thus stated Laws are always best
To rule the vulgar Throng,
Who grow more Stubborn when Carest,
Or with soft Rhetorick addrest,
If taking Measures wrong.
poem by Anne Kingsmill Finch
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Skippy the Frog
Skippy the frog alone on his pad,
Admiring his reflection as if his dad.
His frog legs are strong as he jumped so high,
Landing on a turtle he missed the fly.
Thomas the turtle, scared half to death,
As he plunged under the water with barely a breath.
Skippy the frog, laughing, as hard as he could,
Thinking Thomas the turle was a piece of wood.
But laughing at someone he had hurt,
Thomas the turtle ate green desert!
poem by Keith Foley
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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A Turtle Named George
There was a little turtle named George
On his food he would always gorge
He popped out of his shell
And said what the hell
And George was a turtle no more!
My feeble attempt at humor!
poem by Donna Nimmo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Reflection
On a trail, I spotted a turtle
lost from its home by the water,
I said to the turtle,
'If you're lost, I can help you, '
but the turtle just kept plugging along.
On that same trail, I saw two squirrels
racing to and fro,
I said to the squirrels,
'If you're lost, I can help you, '
but the squirrels just kept racing along.
Further down the trail, I found a mirror
that someone had dropped,
I saw God in its reflection-He said to me,
'If you're lost, I can help you, '
but I just kept walking along.
poem by George Aul
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