Aunt Penelope really doesn’t like hats
she wears cushions up there instead
She says they are warm in the winter
and soft if she falls on her head.
But cushions and pillows are no good
to wear on your head in the rain.
Like sponges they fill up with water
and for hours they drip as they drain.
So Penelope wears, when it’s raining,
a duck (one leg tied to each ear).
It’s waterproof, and uncomplaining,
she says, except when given to fear.
In thunderstorms, when all the lightning
flashes and crashes all night,
the poor duck will quack in a frenzy
and flap wings with all of its might.
And sometimes, if Penny is running,
the flapping’s enough to take flight,
and the duck and the aunt will go soaring
up into the sky out of sight.
A. F. Harrold