The Snake and the Woman

    
 

On her way to work one morning,

down the path beside the lake,

a tender-hearted woman

found a poor, half-frozen snake.

 

His pretty colored skin

was all frosted up with dew.

"Oh dear!" she cried, "I'll take you in

and I'll take care of you".

 

"Take me in, oh tender woman,

Take me in, for heaven's sake,

take me in, tender woman",

sighed the poor, suffering snake.

 

She wrapped him up all cozy

in a curvature of silk,

and then laid him by the fireside

with some honey and some milk.

 

She hurried home from work that night

and as soon as she arrived,

found that pretty snake she'd taken in

had fully well revived.

 

She clutched him to her bosom,

"You're so beautiful", she cried,

"But if I hadn't brought you in,

by now you might have died".

 

Now she stroked his pretty skin,

she kissed and held him tight,

but instead of saying thanks, that snake

gave her a vicious bite!

 

"I saved you!", cried the woman

"And you've bit me, heaven's why?

You know your bite is poisonous

and now I'm going to die".

 

"Oh shut up you silly woman",

said the reptile with a grin.

"You knew damn well I was a snake

when you took me in."

 

Oscar Brown, Jr.

 

 

 

 

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