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The Bestiary of Flanders and Swann
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The Sloth
We all know people who have their heads in the clouds; here's an animal who has his feet in the clouds: the Bradypus or three-toed sloth (or sloth - we use both pronunciations).
I really ought to be hanging upside down to sing this, but I found this rather impractical, so if you can, perhaps you'd be kind enough to stand on your head to listen and we should get more or less the right effect.
A Bradypus, or Sloth, am I,
I live a life of ease
Contented not to do or die,
But idle as I please
I have three toes on either foot,
Or half a doz. on both
With leaves and fruits, and shoots to eat,
How sweet to be a Sloth
The world is such a cheerful place
When viewed from upside-down;
It makes a rise of every fall,
A smile of every frown;
I watch the fleeting flutter by
Of butterfly or moth
And think of all the things I'd try
If I were not a Sloth.
I could climb the very highest Himalayas,
Be among the greatest ever tennis players,
Win at chess or marry a Princess or
Study hard and be an eminent professor.
I could be a millionaire, play the clarinet,
Travel everywhere,
Learn to cook, catch a crook,
Win a war then write a book about it.
I could paint a Mona Lisa,
I could be another Caesar.
Compose an oratorio that was sublime.
The door's not shut on my genius but
I just don't have the time!
For days and days among the trees
I sleep and dream and doze
Just gently swaying in the breeze
Suspended by my toes
While eager beavers overhead
Rush through the undergrowth
I watch the clouds beneath my feet;
How sweet to be a Sloth.
Originally from the album 'The Bestiary of Flanders and Swann'.
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