Teaching A Worm How To Swim

When I was a boy I played with a toy
With my usual vigor and vim
But there wasn’t a toy that gave as much joy
As teaching a worm how to swim.

I soon taught that worm to wiggle and squirm
As I filled my creel up to the brim
But with nary a worm could I ever confirm
That I taught the poor thing how to swim.

I learned how to fish and caught many a dish
And would fish ‘til the light was too dim
But with my every wish as I caught all those fish
The poor worm had not learned to swim.

A little bit older my methods got bolder
With a worm on the surface I’d skim
Yet though I was older my success was still colder
In teaching that worm how to swim.

When I was a man I had more to my clan
With the arrival of sons Bill and Jim
For now all the clan might succeed with my plan
Of teaching a worm how to swim.

But I must confess they had no more success
Than I had with my lifelong whim
Though they can address with much more finesse
Teaching a worm how to swim.

So now that I’m aging I find it enraging
That all of my prospects look slim
Of my ever staging success with engaging
A worm that has learned how to swim.

And I face the morrow with prospects of sorrow
A day that is bound to be grim
No more time can I borrow after tomorrow
To teaching a worm how to swim.