Not Exactly!
by Nan Whybark


My chicken laid an egg once
As black as midnight sky.
I thought it’d hatch a beauty.
My pa was proud as pie!

I watched it so carefully!
When it began to crack,
Pa got the camera ready
And told me to stand back.

Then its little head appeared,
And then its tiny wings.
Pa and I were staring at
This precious newborn thing.

But when it started roaring,
Pa pretty near dropped dead!
I didn’t get a chicken.
A dragon hatched instead!