The Hungry Caterpillar

He ate one apple, then two pears, Three plums and, likely, unawares, Four strawberries, then what came next? Five oranges, as per the text. Not finished, there was chocolate cake, An ice cream cone and, no mistake, A pickle and Swiss cheese, a slice, Another of salami – nice! A lollipop, some cherry pie, A sausage and a cupcake; why Continue? For the story’s sake, One snack to go ‘fore stomach ache. And that would be, in Carle’s cool tellin’ One fat slice of watermelon. What would follow would be brief – Relief, from munching on a leaf. Eric Carle, a kids’ lit thriller, Wrote The Hungry Caterpillar More than fifty years ago And every reader in the know Should feel forever in his debt For showing us, the best way yet, That life may take us for a spin But beauty waits for us within.