Master Hippo Poem by Cicely Fox Smith

The hippo from the banks of Nile,
How wide and winning is the smile
With which he does his simple best
In hippo language to suggest
The thought that stirs his inmost mind -
'It's time, I think, I supped or dined!'
And meals for hippopotami
Are weighty things, you can't deny;
For when they're babies you must buy 'em
Full thirty quarts of milk per diem,
And when they're older, every day
A baby hippo can enjoy
His bath like any human boy,
And splash and splash like Billy-o!

He's not - despite his name, of course -
The least bit like a river horse,
But much more like a river pig,
He is a harmless beast, and though
He is not beautiful, we know,
No doubt his mother thinks him so!