AT THE SAINT LOUIS ZOO

By: Julie Duane

The zoo is full of wonderful things

With humps and trunks and flippers and wings

I like the tigers - all the big cats –

Sorry Seuss, they won't fit in hats

In fact they're demanding their own arena

And that big lion sure looks meana

Then all get out - and I'll tell you that

Is a lotta mean for one big cat

The bears are all handsome - a little sluggish

Although supposedly very huggish

And romantic too: rumor says that a lotta

Bears have their own special inamorata

In August you'll hear the polar bears say

“I can't take this heat for one more day”

The zebras seem bored - as well they might

What monotony, just black and white

And all of it stripes - what they want to do

Is each get a beautiful rose tattoo

How do they ever breed primates

When they're all too ugly to even get dates

Although every gorilla thinks he's a Godzilla

And that all of the monkeys are nothing but flunkies

Most all the baboons want cigars and spittoons

Though some of the apes are into tapes

In fact one of them - an ape named Lum –

Has a single that just want platinum

A beautiful ballad entitled "Shebang"

Penned by a gifted orangutan

I always enjoy watching the seals

Slithering around like slippery eels

I know they prefer to be called sea lion

But that rhymes with nothing at all except Ryan

O'Neal, that is, and I don't think he'd wish

To be in a verse with a seal catching fish

That or thrown by a trainer at feeding time

(The lengths I will go to in search of a rhyme!)

They say that the elephant never forgets

This may be true, but I'm sure he regrets

All those millions of facts, for despite his rank

He's really a walking data bank

I envy the colorful bright flamingos

They can stand on one leg; touch their heads to their toes

And let us not forget the crane

Rumor says many of them are insane

From whooping too much and trying to go

From falsetto tenor to deep contralto

The camels all worry about catching mumps

They've heard that this would dissolve their humps

The giraffes just stand there and look at it all

Who else can say, "I'm the tallest of tall"

Of course there are many more things at the zoo

But I'm tired of this - and I'm sure you are too