Jan Brzechwa
A Strange, Strange Duck

Lazybones sits in his chair,
Doing little more than stare.
“Excuse me but that is not true!
I am quite busy, thank you!
Am I not sitting still?
Have I not had a meal?
Haven’t I just said squat?
Scratched my head, did I not?
And lost a shoe, just so you know,
Well,… there you go!”


Lazybones sits in his chair,
Doing little more than stare.
“Well now, that is a lie!
Washed my ears, didn’t I?
Tore some buttons off clothes,
Stuck a thumb up my nose.
Had my hair cut in style,
Wasn’t that worth my while?
Lazybones sits in his chair,
Doing little more than stare.

 

Waved off going to school, maybe another day,
Didn’t do any homework, didn’t sound like much play,
Gave up tying his shoes, was just too far to reach,
Even saying “Good morning” felt like a waste of speech,
Poochie didn’t get water – it was too far to walk,
Didn’t feed his pet parrot, too much waste on the clock,
Was about to eat supper, chewing just made him cough,
Wanted to go to bed – too late – he dozed off.
In his dream, he started working hard by some mistake,
But it was so tiresome it stirred him awake.

(Translated by: Witold Wojtaszko)