Lessons For Life

'Translate into Japanese: . . . Cats die in water .  . .  Snowy days are cold.'                                                - Teach Yourself  Japanese                                               (EUP 1958) by C. J. Dunn and S Yanada.

 
Listen, dearest daughter,
   To these words of gold.
Cats die in water,
   Snowy days are cold.

Worth their weight in dollars
   Yanada and  Dunn
Teach little language-scholars
    Wisdom dearly won..

When it freezes, mittens
   Always must be donned;
Never let your kittens
   Go too near a pond.

Oh, as days grow shorter,
   Remember you’ve been told
Cats die in water,
   Snowy days are cold.

Jerome Betts


If you have any thoughts on this poem, Jerome Betts would be pleased to hear them.