One day Miss Twiss
the primary teacher
turned into a fish
and began to lecture
to her children dear
holding the chalk
in her fish’s tail.
As she couldn’t walk
She stoof up straight
as a snake might do
and her scales were white
and sometimes blue.
‘I’ll tell you a tail,’
she told the boys
and seemed surprised
when they made a noise.
‘I’ll teach you the scales.’
she told the girls
and seemed surprised
at their subsequent twirls.
‘I’ll teach you to skate,’
she said with a grin
and seemed surprised
at the noise and the din.
When the cat came in
she slid away
and has never been heard of
till this day.
– by Iain Crichton Smith
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