How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and other wood-cuts/The Gnu; The Newt

by Robert Williams Wood

The Gnu conspicuously wears
His coat of gnumerous bristling hairs,
While, as we see, the modest Newt
Of such a coat is destitute.
(I'm only telling this to you,
And it is strictly "entre gnu")
In point of fact the Newt is nude,
And therefore he does not obtrude,
But hides in some secluded gnook,
Beneath the surface of the brook.
It's almost more than he can bear,
To issue slyly from his lair,
And snatch a hasty breath of air,
His need of which is absolute,
Because, you see, he is a pneu-t.^[1]

1. This word, of air is emblematic,
   Greek, "pneumos"—air—compare Pneumatic.