The Reason for The Pelican
13/02/07
The Reason for the Pelican
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The reason for the pelican
Is difficult to see:
His beak is clearly larger
Than there’s any need to be.
It’s not to bail a boat with—
He doesn’t own a boat.
Yet everywhere he takes himself
He has that beak to tote.
It’s not to keep his wife in—
His wife had got one, too.
It’s not a scoop for eating soup.
It’s not an extra shoe.
It isn’t quite for anything.
And yet you realize
It’s really quite a splendid beak
In quite a splendid size.
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John Ciardi
