Two and two make four
Four and four make eight
Eight and eight make sixteen
'Repeat!' calls the schoolmaster
Two and two make four
Four and four make eight
Eight and eight make sixteen
But look at the songbird
Passing in the sky
The child watches it
The child listens to it
The child calls to it
'Save me!'
'Play with me, bird!'
So the bird flies down
And plays with the child
Two and two make four
'Repeat' calls the schoolmaster
And the child plays
And the bird plays with the child
Four and four make eight
And eight and eight make sixteen
And sixteen and sixteen
What do they make?
They make nothing, sixteen and sixteen
And certainly not thirty-two
In any case
They all go away
And the child hides the bird
In his desk
And all the other children
Listen to its song
And all the other children
Listen to its music
And eight and eight go away on their turn
And four and four and two and two
On their turn they all skedaddle
And one and one is not one nor two
One and one go away equally
And the songbird plays
And the child sings
And the teacher cries:
'If you're finished clowning around!'
But all the other children
Are listening to the music
And the walls of the class
Slowly fade away
And the window panes return to sand
The ink returns to water
The desks return to trees
The chalk returns to the mines
The feather quill returns to the bird.