As a child I enjoyed poetry from a very young age and have struggled to find a copy of one of my favourite childhood poems - The Piffle Poffle - it featured in my first ever poetry book - Happy Landings published by Zebra Books in 1971. If aonyone has a copy and can post the verse here I would as the last line of the poem states... 'be a friend for life'.
I have, however, been able to locate two other favourites from that time of my life. The first can be found in Spike Milligan's Book of Milliganimals published in 1968 and the second in Evan's Book Of Verse, published in 1972.
Silly Old Baboon by Spike Milligan
There was a baboon
Who one afternoon
Said I think I will fly to the sun
So with great palms
strapped to his arms
he started he takeoff run
Mile after mile
He galloped in style
But never once left the ground
You’re going too slow
said a passing crow
Try reaching the speed of sound
So
he put on a spurt
My God how it hurt
both the soles of his feet caught on fire
As he went through a stream
There were great clouds of steam
But he never got any higher
On and on through the night
both his knees caught alight
clouds of smoke billowed out of his rear!!!
Quick to his aid
Were the fire brigade
They chased him for over a year
Many moons passed by
Did Baboon ever fly
Did he ever get to the sun
I’ve just heard today,
he’s well on his way
He’ll be passing through Acton at one.
PS - well, what do you expect from a baboon
I Had a Hippopotamus by Patrick Barrington
I had a hippopotamus; I kept him in a shed
And fed him upon vitamins and vegetable bread.
I made him my companion on many cheery walks,
And had his portrait done by a celebrity in chalks.
His charming eccentricities were known on every side.
The creature's popularity was wonderfully wide.
He frolicked with the Rector in a dozen friendly tussles,
Who could not but remark on his hippopotamuscles.
If he should be affected by depression or the dumps
By hippopotameasles or hippopotamumps
I never knew a particle of peace 'till it was plain
He was hippopotamasticating properly again.
I had a hippopotamus, I loved him as a friend
But beautiful relationships are bound to end.
Time takes, alas! our joys from us and robs us of our blisses.
My hippopotamus turned out to be a hippopotamissus.
My housekeeper regarded him with jaundice in her eye.
She did not want a colony of hippopotami.
She borrowed a machine gun from her soldier-nephew, Percy
And showed my hippopotamus no hippopotamercy.
My house now lacks the glamour that the charming creature gave.
The garage where I kept him is as silent as a grave.
No longer he displays among the motor-tires and spanners
His hippopotamastery of hippopotamanners.
No longer now he gambols in the orchard in the Spring;
No longer do I lead him through the village on a string;
No longer in the mornings does the neighborhood rejoice
To his hippopotamusically-modulated voice.
I had a hippopotamus, but nothing upon the earth
Is constant in its happiness or lasting in its mirth.
No life that's joyful can be strong enough to smother
My sorrow for what might have been a hippopotamother.
Posts
If you ever see a creature
ReplyDeletewith thirty-seven toes
and eyes of an enormous size
And a nose which grows and grows
be on your best behaviour
and treat him with great care
(which means refrain from laughing
at the colour of his hair)
and he might take you home with him
to have tea in his lair.
in which case, do not mention
the fact that he is green,
nor that he is slightly plump
(he likes to think hes lean)
pretend you havent noticed
his thirty seven toes,
and say "how most convenient
to have a nose which grows!"
but never ever tell him
that his mouth is rather wide
or you might get a look at
his reddish bladk inside!
if you do not ask him why
he eats without a knife
then in the piffle poffle
you have a friend for life!
Catherine Lodge (aged 12)