My friends Alan and Marge brought this song to our song circle yesterday. They said they learned it years ago from a recording by Betty Smith.

THERE ONCE WAS AN OWL
(poem by John Ciardi, music by Bob Beers)

There once was an owl, perched on a shed,
Fifty years later the owl was dead.
Fifty times flfty and the years ao by.
Corn keeps best when it's cool and dry.
Fifty times fifty and one by one,
Night begins when the day is done.

Some say mice are in the corn.
Some say kittens are being born.
Some say a kitten becomes a cat.
Mice are likely to know about that.
Some cats are scratchy and some are not.
Corn grows best when it's damp and hot.

Owl on the shed, cat in the clover,
Mice in the com, and it all starts over.
Fifty times fifty and one by one,
Night begins when the day is done.


Music by Robert Beers © 1977 by Evelyne Beers Burnstine
Words by John Ciardi from The Reason for the Pelican, ©1959 by John Ciardi