Boys And Their Spinach (Children) Poem by Herbert Nehrlich

All the kids sat down for lunch,
and the mother, also Dad
during meals this happy bunch
ate and ate. But Tim looked sad.

Spinach sat, all mushy green
on his plate, next to the meat.
A bigger pile he'd never seen
and was expected now to eat.

Dad insisted that all greens
must be eaten by his kids,
that included ugly beans,
bitter olives (without pits) .

But, since Dad was often flying
overseas to make his money,
Tim would sit there, loudly crying
'til his nose was really runny.

Mother, who was always busy
got a headache from the crying,
and it sometimes made her dizzy
(that's when Dad was gone, and flying) .

So, she did allow that Tim
trade his spinach for some Jell-O,
with his older brother Jim,
who was always a good fellow.

But, you children may have heard
that your food will make you grow,
and that Jell-O is dessert,
not as good as spinach though.

And what happened after years
of Tim's body getting Jell-O,
he stayed little and Dad's fears
his hair would turn canary yellow,

did sure come true, so listen, guys,
Popeye was really big and strong.
The spinach gave him eagle eyes,
all because, for years (that long)

when he was a little man
he would always clean his plate,
and he was a spinach fan,
that's why his muscles looked so great.

It's up to you. If you would like
to grow into a fine young man,
and be the fastest on your bike,
have great big muscles 'cause you can

you'll need to always eat your greens,
including spinach and green bugs,
and broccoli, cabbage and beans.
Green-eating boys get all the hugs.