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Eine Kleine Snailmusik by May Sarton

The snail watchers are interested in snails from all angles.....At the moment they are investigating the snail's reaction to music. "We have played to them on the harp in the garden, in the country on the pipe," said Mr. Heaton, "and we have taken them into the house and played to them on the piano." — The London Star

What soothes the angry snail?
What's music to his horn?
For the "Sonata Appassionata,"
He shows scorn,
And Handel
Makes the frail snail
quail,
While Prokofieff
Gets no laugh,
And Tchaikovsky, I fear,
No tear.
Piano, pipe, and harp,
Dulcet or shrill,
Flat or sharp,
Indoors or in the garden,
Are willy-nilly
Silly
To the reserved, slow,
Sensitive
Snail,
who prefers to live
Glissandissimo,
Pianissimo.