The Phoenix Book

Truly the best poem ever.
35 years ago when my kids were small, I read them a version published by the Parents' Magazine Press. I am pretty sure it was written and illustrated by Edward Lear, but I could be wrong about the illustrations. (Lear was originally a landscape painter before he wrote children's poems. I think he was somewhat like Beatrix Potter in that he started writing nonsense to please young relations; his large Victorian family had been split up when his parents died.)

"The themes in this (rhyming) story of a young Pelican engaged to marry a Crane, with whom she will fly away to never again see her family is so poignant, and yet the words are so satisfying:
King and Queen of the Pelicans,We
No Other birds so grand we see
None like we have feet like fins
And lovely leathery throats and chins"


I ask you , who could resist that?

***UPDATE***
I found the edition I read:
It is illustrated by HAROLD BERSON, published by Parents Magazine Press in 1967. If you can ever find a copy of this edition, the pictures are wonderful. Subtle yet funny. Elegant yet true to ornithology.