Reward and Punishment

If you are good I will give you:

A pillow of blue strawberries

A swimming pool of Häagen-Dazs

A mirror of imagination

A pocketful of yes’s

A hiss of sleigh rides

A lunch box of swirling planets

If you are very good I will give you:

A doorway of happy endings

A hedgerow of diamonds

A surfboard of dolphins

A cat’s paw of tickles

A carton of fresh rainbow-juice

A forest of chocolate wardrobes

But if you are naughty you will get:

A burst of balloon

A screech of wolf

A hoof of piggy bank

A twitch of sideways

A splinter of thirst

A precipice of banana skins

If you are very naughty you will get:

A tyrannosaurus of broccoli

A rucksack of bony elbows

A skeleton of lost pencils

A flag of inconvenience

A chill of false laughter

A detention that lasts forever, and ever, and ev …