The fragrant honeysuckle spirals clockwise to the sun And many other creepers do the same But some climb anti-clockwise, the bindweed does, for one Or convolvulus, to give her proper name Rooted on either side a door, one of each species grew And raced towards the window-ledge above Each corkscrewed to the lintel in the only way it knew Where they stopped, touched tendrils, smiled, and fell in love Said the right-handed honeysuckle to the left-handed bindweed Oh, let us get married, if our parents don't mind We'd be loving and inseparable, inextricably entwined We'd live happily ever after, said the honeysuckle to the bindweed To the honeysuckle's parents it came as a shock The bindweeds, they cried, are inferior stock They're uncultivated, of breeding bereft We twine to the right and they twine to the left!" Said the anti-clockwise bindweed to the clockwise honeysuckle We'd better start saving many a mickle maks a muckle Then run away for a honeymoon and hope that our luck'll Take a turn for the better, said the bindweed to the honeysuckle A bee who was passing remarked to them then I've said it before and I'll say it again Consider your offshoots, if offshoots there be They'll never receive any blessing from me! Poor little sucker, how will it learn When it is climbing, which way to turn? Right, left, what a disgrace Or it may go straight up and fall flat on its face Said the right-hand-thread honeysuckle to the left-hand-thread bindweed "It seems that against us, all fate has combined Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Colombine Thou art lost and gone forever, we shall never intertwine Together, they found them, the very next day They had pulled up their roots and just shrivelled away Deprived of that freedom for which we must fight To veer to the left or to veer to the right!