A prankish Monkey,
A Mare,
A bow-legged Bear
And a Donkey
Teamed up to play a Quartet by Mozart.
They got hold of the score, a cello, a viola and two fiddles
And sat down on the lawn beneath the lindens
To captivate the world with their art.
They struck the strings, but music didn't start.
'Stop, fellas, stop!' The Monkey cried, 'Wait! 
Because you sit all wrong the music can't be played!
You with your cello, Bear, sit opposite the second fiddle,
I, the prima, must be in the middle;
Then music will arise at once:
The forest and the hills will dance!'
Thus seated, they started the Quartet
But music all the same was dead.
'Wait! I have discovered the know-how,'
The Donkey said,
'In order to play well we must sit in a row!'
They sat decorously as they had been told
But still the Quartet went on in discord.
Here they got into more heated conversations
And altercations
About who should sit where and why.
Attracted to their racket, a Nightingale came by.
They all appealed to him to solve their doubt.
'Please, be so kind,' they cried, 'to help us out:
We have the score, and instruments we have,
How we should sit - just tell us from above!'
'In order to play music first you must be skilled,'
The Nightingale revealed,
'But you, my friends, try all sorts of positions,
You'll never be musicians.'

February 2023