The Quadrupeds' Pic-Nic

Here a seal shuffled up, and, just waving his fin,
Requested permission a word to put in.
"Though the beauties of plain and of forest you know,
Yet who can describe all the wonders below?
On a soft bed of sponge in the deep sea I lie,
And watch the huge shark and the grampus glide by;
Or amidst groves of coral I play at bo-peep,
Or I float where the porpoise and flying-fish leap.
I have seen the thin nautilus trimming her sail,
And the Geyser-like waterspout made by the whale;
To this lord of the ocean there clung a whole bevy
Of parasite barnacles waiting his 'levée.'
I have seen the