When Pa came home last night he had a package in his hand, <br />Now Ma,' said he, 'I've something here which you will say is grand. <br />A friend of mine got home today from hunting in the woods, <br />He's been away a week or two, and got back with the goods. <br />He had a corking string of birds, I wish you could have seen 'em!' <br />'If you've brought any partridge home,' said Ma, 'you'll have to clean 'em.' <br /> <br />'Now listen, Ma,' said Pa to her, 'these birds are mighty rare. <br />I know a lot of men who'd pay a heap to get a pair. <br />But it's against the law to sell this splendid sort of game, <br />And if you bought 'em you would have to use a different name. <br />It isn't every couple has a pair to eat between 'em.' <br />'If you got any partridge there,' says Ma, 'you'll have to clean 'em.' <br /> <br />'Whenever kings want something fine, it's partridge that they eat, <br />And millionaires prefer 'em, too, to every sort of meat. <br />About us everywhere tonight are folks who'd think it fine <br />If on a brace of partridge they could just sit down to dine. <br />They've got a turkey skinned to death, they're sweeter than a chicken.' <br />'If that's what you've brought home,' says Ma, 'you'll have to do the pickin'.' <br /> <br />And then Pa took the paper off and showed Ma what he had, <br />'There, look at those two beauties, don't they start you feelin' glad? <br />An' ain't your mouth a-waterin' to think how fine they'll be <br />When you've cooked 'em up for dinner, one for you an' one for me?' <br />But Ma just turned her nose up high, an' said when she had seen 'em, <br />'You'll never live to eat 'em if you wait for me to clean 'em.'<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/what-ma-said/
