In the land of For-Spacious,
Many eons ago,
Was a forest coniferous,
Where acorns would grow.
Where lived a rhinoceros,
Whose history I will let you know.
Past the edge of the nation,
I now should explain,
Stretched away a great plain,
Bedecked with plantations,
And amber waves of grain.
In the midst of the weald,
In a clearing of stump,
(All the trees had been felled)
The rhinoceros dwelled
His name was Con Strump.
Strump moved amongst clumps,
With cacophonious thumps,
Always preaching in grunts,
To lemmings, perched on humps.
At the edge of Strump’s camp,
There was a great swamp,
A garbage-filled dump,
Completely amok.
Engendering havoc,
And threatening a permanent slump.
“I can empty the sump,
Proclaims old Con Strump,
I’m tough and I’m smart,
And I’ll make a huge pump.
I’ll be your next monarch,
And end the foul swamp,
With habitual flamboyance and pomp.”
All squirrels were timorous,
and birds quite incredulous,
horned rhino sovereign,
Will be hideous and dangerous.
But the swamp keeps expanding,
and so requires draining,
“Let Grump manage everything,
There’s no point complaining.”
Strump then took a long hose,
Put an end in the swale,
And started the siphon,
All the water to bail.
“I won’t let the outflow run into a seep.
I’ve created a moat to contain it that’s deep,
Creating thereby an impregnable keep,
So wolves will not creep,
and maraud while we sleep.”
“Heff’lumps and elves,
Whom I fully disdain,
Won’t steal from our shelves,
To consume on the plain,
Or drainall our wells.
We’ll make everything here for ourselves.”
“We are crocked,” swished an eland,
“A poor hand we are dealt,
No grain grows in this land,
It’s now blocked on the veldt,
We will starve in this belt.
With no sympathy felt.”
“It’s my plan,” Strump concedes,
“To which you’re now privy,
To take care of your needs.
I will end leagues of ivy,
And kill all other weeds,
In order to cultivate seeds.”
“Though years may elapse,
‘Til the seeds becomes rice,
When you elands collapse,
It’s for a future that’s nice,
It’s a worthwhile sacrifice!”
There occurred many tumults,
But the vain rhino stated,
“Despite grievous insults,
I’ve prevailed and created.”
“I’ll rule decades more,
My removal belated,
To see great results,
that my destiny’s fated,
from the works I’ve instigated.”
A brave squirrel then berated,
“You’ve made a big fuss,
Your ego’s inflated.
Time will show it’s not thus.
Your moat will be truncated.
And ivy reinstated.
The tale just related,
(Its end I don’t know),
Is from eons ago,
And not easily located.
Though events there resound,
Sending echos our way,
Please, do not confound,
With events of today.
I won’t be mendacious,
The good news I convey:
Eons later, in For-Spacious
Elands thrive — work, and play.
*In the well known USA hymn, America the Beautiful,
written by Katherine Lee Bates in 1895, and set to music by Samuel A. Ward,
the first stanza begins:
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties,
Above the fruited plain!