Said the hedgehog to the chestnut,
“Spines like yours hold me in thrall!”
Said the chestnut to the hedgehog
No acknowledgement at all.
Said the hedgehog to the chestnut,
“Bristles like that blow my mind!”
Said the chestnut to the hedgehog
Not a compliment in kind.
Said the hedgehog to the chestnut,
“Prickliness like yours is rare!”
Said the chestnut to the hedgehog
Same as if no one was there.
Said the hedgehog to the chestnut,
“Like a pair of burs we’ll cling!”
Said the chestnut to the hedgehog
Not a single blessed thing.
Said the hedgehog to the chestnut,
“Guess it wasn’t meant to be.”
Said the chestnut to the hedgehog,
“Now with that I quite agree!”
(Words by Sarah Hinlicky Wilson, inspired by the postcard above I found at a shop in Tokyo, though it’s obviously of French origin. “Jouons!” means “Let’s play!” This poem is also an experiment in trochaic meter—TUMtum—unlike the usual English-language convention of iambic meter—tumTUM.)