^AmIt was a grand upstanding bantam cock, ^AmSo brisk and stiff and spry, ^GWith springy s^Ftep and jaunty^Em plume ^EAnd a purposeful look in his ^Ameye, I^En his little black blinking ^Ameye, he had.

^AmI took him to the coop and introduced him ^AmTo my seventeen wide-eyed hens. ^GHe tupped a^Fnd he tupped as ^Ema hero tups ^EAnd he bowed from the waist to^Am them all, and then ^EHe upped and he tupped 'em all a^Amgain, he did.

^AmAnd then upon the peace of me ducks and me geese ^AmHe rudely did intrude. ^GWith glazed em^Fyes and open mout^Emhs ^EThey bore it all with forti^Amtude ^EAnd a little bit of gratitud^Ame, they did.

^AmHe jumped my giggling guinea fowl ^AmAnd forced his attentions upon ^GMy twenty hy^Fsterical turkeys ^Emand ^EA visiting migrant s^Amwan. ^EBut the bantam thundered^Am on, he did.

^AmHe ravished my fan-tailed pigeons and ^AmMe lily-white columbines, ^GAnd while I was^F locking up the budg^Emerigar ^EHe jumped my parrot from be^Amhind; ^EShe was sitting on me shoulder ^Amat the time.

^AmAnd all of a sudden with a gasp and a gulp ^AmHe clapped his hands to his head, ^GFell flat on his ^Fback with his toes in t^EMhe air. ^EMy bantam cock lay d^Amead ^EAnd the vultures circled overhe^Amad, they did.

^AmWhat a champion brute; what a noble cock; ^AmWhat a way to live and to die. ^GI was diggin' him^F a grave to save his b^Emones ^EFrom the hungry buzzards in the^Am sky ^EWhen the bantam opened up a sly l^Amittle eye.

^AmHe gave me a grin and a terrible wink ^AmThe way that roosters do. ^GHe said, 'You^F see them big daft buggers up^Em there? ^EThey'll be down in a minute or ^Amtwo; ^EThey'll be down in a minute or ^Amtwo.'

Jake Thackray - The bantom cock