THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A RHINOCEROS

A mighty animal is he not
He lives alone and goes spot to spot.
A nomads life is his, I think,
He goes real far just for a drink.

With earth so dry and sun so hot,
He searched a little shade.
He was hungry for some moisty grass
But there there was not a single blade.

With a great big sigh and a tear in his eye
He stumbled right along.
He mixed up his directions;
He knew that he was wrong.

On his nose he had a horn;
An amazing thing to see.
A guy came 'long to cut it off
But the rhino did not agree.

He slashed about and butted hard;
He would just have none of this.
He was proud of that little horn
Which he would surely miss.

When at length to a lake he came
He threw himself right in it.
Oh, that really felt so good;
He couldn't stand it one more minute.

And on the shore of that there lake
The grass was green and tall.
So, he went and ate most of it.
Yes, he nearly ate it all.

When he finished, he let a burp
And left this grassy site.
He searched out a little spot
Where he could spend the night.

When he awoke the next morn,
He sniffed a funny smell.
He cocked his head and blinked an eye
And then rushed 'round pell-mell.

He opened up the grass a bit.
She stood there in the sun.
A thousand lovely kilos,
Which was a metric tonne.

She lifted up her little tail
And spread her legs apart.
So, he meandered over there
But she only let a fart.

He was aroused; he was in heat.
He was looking for some fun.
He didn't wait to be asked twice
And took her on the run.

So, nineteen months later she dropped a kid,
But it was just a little she.
Her father didn't like her much
She had to squat to pee.

Her momma was so happy
The day that she was born.
But her father was disgruntled;
She didn't have a horn.

Years passed by and she grew up
And she learned to flutter her eyes.
So, she picked out a substantial mate
And said no to the other guys.

Then, one day in the summer,
A white man came to hunt.
He raised his heavy rifle
And killed an elephunt.

And on that very day
With a bullet made of lead;
He came upon our rhino
And shot it very dead.

Now, the natives there have a saying,
Which I'll pass along to you.
A rhino with two horns is too much,
But with only one it is too few.


E.J. Lewis

I woke up this morning wondering what rhino's did every day.

Thank you for the bypass to otherness.

E.J. Lewis: This story went well with my morning coffee...was comical until the hunter shot the elephant and the rhino...good writing...Ell

Cool.
I like animals.
Saragirl

E.L., Nice poem, good story, too bad it's all too true. jhs

Quite comical until the end, then there's nothing comical about man's inhumanity to animals. Enjoyed your poem though, just wish you could have supplied a different ending. JP

bump