Thomas The Pretender

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Tommy's alluz playin' jokes,
  An' actin' up, an' foolin' folks;
  An' wunst one time he creep
  In Pa's big chair, he did, one night,
  An' squint an' shut his eyes bofe tight,
  An' say, "Now I 'm asleep."
  An' nen we knowed, an' Ma know' too,
  He _ain't_ asleep no more 'n you!

  An' wunst he clumbed on our back'fence
  An' flop his arms an' nen commence
  To crow, like he's a hen;
  But when he failed off, like he done,
  He didn't fool us childern none,
  Ner didn't _crow_ again.
  An' our Hired Man, as he come by,
  Says, "Tom can't _crow_, but he kin _cry_."

© James Whitcomb Riley