An Outstanding Elephant April 28, 2008

An outstanding elephant floats to the moon

on packets of Angel Delight

and says to his children “we’ll be there quite soon

you’ll just be amazed at the sight

of the Martians who play in the asteroid crater

Venutian tourists who buy and pay later

when offered a ride to the sun

in an old and decrepit and most unsafe freighter

built back in 2001″

he said

“built back in 2001″

 

Paul Hughes 2008

 

 

Pach yer trunks and go! March 6, 2008

If it should ever come to pass

That elephants exhaust their grass

And search for pastures new

So lumbering through Italy

Then Savoie, Lille and Picardy

And o’er the Channel blue

They came to rest in Oxfordshire

Attracted by its lush verdure

I’d know not what to do 

For fencing of the kind we know

Would fail to stop a buffalo

So elephants would come and go

Without further ado 

my Buttercups and dahlias

my Hollyhocks, azaleas

Would make them but a snack

Nothing would them satisfy

Not artichokes nor salsify

Oh woe is me, alack 

So if you chance on pachyderms

Whilst sightseeing in kent

Please see to it that they return

To Europe’s continent!

on reflection: 

I've come to fear that some may judge this selfish attitude

so let me say I did not mean this poem to be rude

if savannah were a feature of my garden then it's plain

no grumbling would pass my lips, complaining I'd disdain

yet in my cottage garden there's no room for such as these

and so I'd rather keep them from my raspberries and peas.

Paul Hughes 2008