A lovely musical sound is heard From the rainforests of Queensland Also the whirr of an electric saw And the toots and da-dums of a marching band
They’re not the sounds of a jungle party Nor a trumpeter tuning his instrument It’s just the superb lyre bird Showing off his many vocal talents
He can be found in the theatres he builds In the shrubs of his forest abode In which he dances like a prima donna For all the girls in his neighbourhood
He fans out his beautiful tail The girls all watch with interested eyes He’ll then take two steps forward One step back, three to the side
He then goes up to the nearest bird And asks her if she likes his dance If she says “Oh yes I do good sir!” Well, then its the start of a little romance
The superb lyrebird sets out to impress Not one girl but a whole lot of them He’ll sing for up to four hours a day Until every last one is in love with him
Every year he puts up ever more Beautiful acts of song and dance Better and better are his displays As he entertains his special audience
If you ever chance to come across An especially friendly lyre bird Say something to him a few times And he may just say your magic word
Kaboom! Boom! Biff! Biff! Thud! That’s the sound you hear from this stomatopod As she attacks her enemies big and small Breaking them up shells, claws and all
She’s a warrior of an ancient line Fierce and strong is this lass She can punch the living daylights out Of anyone who shows her sass
She has independently roaming eyes Nothing escapes her frightening glare Your friend and you can run and hide Ms. Mantis will follow you each with her stare
Miss Mantis Ali has many friends They even have a secret code Their bodies sparkle in the sun As they dance in their shallow pool homes
She has a cousin whom she loves Who lives in the warm Pacific waters They meet up once in a while And get up to all sorts of fun and laughter
If you ever come very near her home In the warm waters of the Indian ocean She’ll puff out her chest and growl at you And get her boxer mode full on
And there we leave Miss Mantis Ali Of the Mantis Shrimp family Boxing champion of all the oceans Fearless fighter of all the seas.
Glumbus Bean was a sad little cloud All day he’d cry his little eyes out While his other friends played fun games in the sky Glumbus would sit by himself and cry
One day while he was howling away And sneezing out cold sleet Mr Gale-Force-Wind came rushing in On speedy, nimble feet
He looked at Glumbus’s wet face And tumbled around with laughter I’ve never seen a nimbus cloud Who did a great job and sobbed after!
You are the rainy season cloud And naturally you cry But these are not unhappy tears That’s just the way you fly!
You’re the best little Cloud School student That I have ever seen So keep your rainy rivers flowing You’re an ace, Glumbus Bean!
Glumbus Bean smiled happily All over his cloudy face It pitter-pattered rain that day As he skipped about the place.
Mahvash Mohtadullah 