you'd think a lion or a snake
were quite enough one's nerves to shake;
but in this classic beast we find
a lion and a snake combined,
and, just as if that weren't enough,
a goat thrown in to make it tough.
let scientists the breed pooh! pooh!
come with me to some social zoo
and hear the bearded lion bleat
goat-like on patent-kidded feet,
whose "civil leer and damning praise"
the serpent's cloven tongue betrays.
lo! lion, goat, and snake combined!
thus nature doth repeat her kind.
