Pogo Jumps Up to the Moon

Pogo jumps up to the moon

And comes back down

When he’s back at home

His mother asks him

What he saw

On the moon

‘I saw a tiger

Wearing a crown’

Pogo tells his mother

His mother says--

‘No, that can’t be

There are no tigers

On the moon

And even if there were

Where would they get

A crown?’

Pogo says he saw what he saw

And he goes back to eating

His oatmeal and toast

The next day

He jumps up

To the moon

For the second time

And when he comes down

His mother is waiting

Asking him

What he saw

This time

‘I saw a man in a balloon

A hot-air balloon

With polka dots’

Pogo’s mother knew

That couldn’t be true

There couldn’t be hot air balloons

Flying around

On the moon

And there weren’t any men

Not that she knew of

And she sent Pogo to his room

For fibbing about

What he saw on the moon

The next day

He snuck out to the yard

And up, up, up

He jumped

Right up to the moon

When he came down

His mother was furious

That he would go

Up to the moon

After lying about

What he saw

But she gave him a chance

To make it right

And tell her

The truth

About what he saw

This time

Pogo was nervous

But he did not want

To lie to his mom

So he told her

What he saw

‘A pie, freshly baked

Sitting on a table’

His mother had enough

She demanded that Pogo

Take her up to the moon

So she could prove

That none of these things

Were up on the moon

Back in her day

Pogo’s mother

Was a champion jumper

So the two of them

Jumped and jumped and jumped

And soon, there they were

Up

On the moon

Once they were there

Pogo’s mother asked him

To show her

The tiger

And the pie

And the hot-air balloon

Pogo looked around

Then pointed down

And yelled--

‘There, there they are!’

Pogo’s mother looked down

And there they were

Floating above the earth

Clouds

One that looked

Like a tiger

With a crown

One that looked

Like a man

In a hot-air balloon

With little holes

In the cloud

That looked like polka dots

And one that looked

Like a pie

Sitting on a table

Little puffs of clouds

Floating near it

Making it look

Freshly-baked

‘Oh Pogo,’ said his mother,

‘I’m sorry I didn’t try

To imagine

What you could see

Up here’

His mother realized

That we all see things differently

And it’s important

Not to think someone is lying

Just because

We can’t believe

Their truth

Pogo and his mother

Sat on the moon

And he showed her

All the other clouds

He could see

And how they looked

To him

His mother listened

To each and every sight

Her son was spying

From the moon

Happy he would share

All this with her

And happy to try

And see it

For herself