Once upon, upon,
Upon a hill, there,
Ahoy there, ahoy,
There a question sat upon a stone,
Until it rolled away… in the red rain – Oh!

Once upon upon, upon, again, again the same, but with a little less pain, and then there was your name in the beautiful frame.

Once upon, a story then, a story then and not without history, and not without mystery.

Once, then, in a village?
In a town?
In a city? No.
In a vase, under a hat, above a cloud?
Aloft? No.
In the corner of an eye, on the tip of a nose? No.
'What then, where then?', I hear you say.
Of a kitten or a mitten?

Of a mish & a mash, I say
A crash & a clash & a mad mad dash,
And an incredible, incredible, incredible splash,
A splosh, a gerlosh, a splosh-a-tee splosh-a-tea …Spongecake!
Yes, Spongecakes – they are so useful, so convenient, at a time,
A time, like this,
When tomatoes might do, but, of course, never offer the frightful delight of the Spongecake – the sponge-snake
…a little opaque if it's not my mistake, my mistake,
My miss-take, my steak, yes, that is my steak, there… is much at stake, there are lots to take, plots to bake,
So, do not overtake…
Have another piece of snake-cake

Oh, was that a quake, no no, that was just fake – it was a lake,
A lake, I saw, on the dancing sunlight and after the fright, and after the Sprite

Which Sprite, I heard you say, I a-heard you a-whispering.
The Sprite with the stone and with the endearing tone, and lacking a phone, but not alone,
Accompanied by such a dear sparkle-eyed winter Gnome – one for every home – a little winter Gnome
An engraver… engraving a question upon a stone, upon a tone.