Limerick Sketches

I am illustrating one of Edward Lear's limericks.
It goes...

There was a young lady whose bonnet

Came untied when the birds sat upon it
But she said, " I don't care
All the birds in the air
Are welcome to sit on my bonnet!"

So these are the two sketches. I am a bit torn between them. I like the horizontal one because of the trees fading off into the distance and that it has more story to it. I wanted the trees to look sad because the birds no longer want to sit on their branches. I think I could push this more by having more birds leaving the trees.
I like the portrait one because it is probably more eye-catching...?
Anyway, I plan to do both eventually but the majority of the class seemed to like the portrait so I will start with that one for the assignment due next week.