The Poetry Corner

The Three Voices

By Arthur Macy

There once was a man who asked for pie, In a piping voice up high, up high; And when he asked for a salmon roe, He spoke in a voice down low, down low; But when he said he had no choice, He always spoke in a medium voice. I cannot tell the reason why He sometimes spoke up high, up high; And why he sometimes spoke down low, I do not know, I do not know; And why he spoke in the medium way, Don't ask me, for I cannot say.