What Did You Expect?

The wizened man
Inclined his hand
And bade me cease to speak.
"My friend," he said,
"I have not led
You here for what you seek.

But rather I
Have brought you by
This pond beneath this tree
To see a sight
So wrongly right
It muddles even me."

He took my hat,
Then pointed at
The surface of the pond.
I looked and there
Beheld a rare
And priceless type of penguin.

"O wizened man,
Would you please hand
my hat to me," I say.
"I won't," says he,
"Until you see
The penguin fly away."

"O sir, you are
quite off the mark,"
I say with quite a sigh.
"You're wrong, for lo
(As all men know):
The penguin cannot fly."

He took my hat
And threw it at
The penguin in the pond.
It looked at things,
Then spread its wings,
And dove underwater.