Tutankhamen -- Romance on the Nile
By Beth LaBuff -- March 2008
Topic: Homespun Wisdom -- Every dark cloud has a silver lining.
Adrift among the bulrushes
Upon the river Nile,
A lily pad meandered --
An aquatic floating isle.
The lily pad’s lone occupant
A bullfrog -- Tutankhamen,
Would sun upon yon’ lily pad,
Then swim, then sun again.
Life, unharried, drifted out
Amongst the river folk,
Speaking when the spirit moved,
His solitary “croak.”
Tut came from royal bloodlines.
His lineage -- traced with pride
To kindred frogs in Pharaoh’s halls,
On his mummy’s side --
Four thousand generations back,
Give or take a few,
To frogs in Egypt’s kneading troughs
And those in oven’s stew.
His lily pad, with leak issues,
Drooped on it’s starboard side.
It caused Tut’s leg to ebb and flow
And dangle in the tide.
His marinated frog leg
Showed dire discoloration --
A sickly sort of sallow xanthous
Chartreuse combination.
How does one hide a mismatched leg
Or cloak humiliation?
His personal plague, thorn in the flesh --
Disgraceful situation.
Tut hopped to town to seek out shops
So that he might compare
The price to stabilize his pad
With leak and droop repair.
The knowledgeable merchant
Insisted that he knew
Precisely what his pad would need --
New gutters, paint, and glue.
Tut juggled all his purchases
As he hopped out the door
To a “Thank you, please come back again"
From Bart’s Botanical Store.
Before he’d taken twenty steps
He lost his gutter grip.
Paint then glue and gutters flew
And that caused Tut to trip.
His flailing leg flashed like a light,
Stopped traffic on the road.
And caught the eye and interest of
One Cleopatra Toad.
Miss Cleo’s fairy tale world
Desired hoppy bliss,
With visions of a frog turned prince
After a magic kiss.
Enamored with Tut’s garish leg,
‘Cause printed in black ink
She’d read in Fashion Magazine,
“Chartreuse is the new pink.”
Epilogue
A cloud burst on the lily pad
New gutters were in use.
Two amphibians, eight total legs --
Seven green and one chartreuse.
By Beth LaBuff -- March 2008
Topic: Homespun Wisdom -- Every dark cloud has a silver lining.
Adrift among the bulrushes
Upon the river Nile,
A lily pad meandered --
An aquatic floating isle.
The lily pad’s lone occupant
A bullfrog -- Tutankhamen,
Would sun upon yon’ lily pad,
Then swim, then sun again.
Life, unharried, drifted out
Amongst the river folk,
Speaking when the spirit moved,
His solitary “croak.”
Tut came from royal bloodlines.
His lineage -- traced with pride
To kindred frogs in Pharaoh’s halls,
On his mummy’s side --
Four thousand generations back,
Give or take a few,
To frogs in Egypt’s kneading troughs
And those in oven’s stew.
His lily pad, with leak issues,
Drooped on it’s starboard side.
It caused Tut’s leg to ebb and flow
And dangle in the tide.
His marinated frog leg
Showed dire discoloration --
A sickly sort of sallow xanthous
Chartreuse combination.
How does one hide a mismatched leg
Or cloak humiliation?
His personal plague, thorn in the flesh --
Disgraceful situation.
Tut hopped to town to seek out shops
So that he might compare
The price to stabilize his pad
With leak and droop repair.
The knowledgeable merchant
Insisted that he knew
Precisely what his pad would need --
New gutters, paint, and glue.
Tut juggled all his purchases
As he hopped out the door
To a “Thank you, please come back again"
From Bart’s Botanical Store.
Before he’d taken twenty steps
He lost his gutter grip.
Paint then glue and gutters flew
And that caused Tut to trip.
His flailing leg flashed like a light,
Stopped traffic on the road.
And caught the eye and interest of
One Cleopatra Toad.
Miss Cleo’s fairy tale world
Desired hoppy bliss,
With visions of a frog turned prince
After a magic kiss.
Enamored with Tut’s garish leg,
‘Cause printed in black ink
She’d read in Fashion Magazine,
“Chartreuse is the new pink.”
Epilogue
A cloud burst on the lily pad
New gutters were in use.
Two amphibians, eight total legs --
Seven green and one chartreuse.
written for a FaithWriters.com writing challenge
© Beth LaBuff -- March 2008
9 comments:
hehehe. LOVE it. You are a MASTER of this stuff.
Oh, what a great way to end my day. With a smile on my face... ;)
giggle, giggle...I just LOVE your animal poems!
That was so CUTE, Aunt Beth! I love your poems. You should publish a book (complete with illustrations, I think?).
Now that was funny. Well done, once again.
LoL--I truly love this one, Beff!!
Oh Beth, how do you do it? This is so funny and cute and sweet and...well...wonderful! Love it!
Interesting poem! Love the title.
Your poetry is so much fun! Sorry it has taken me so long to visit your blog! I'll be back. :)
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