THE EASTER BUNNY

It seems to me there’s something funny

About our friend the Easter Bunny.

Why does he carry a basket of eggs?

Bunnies don’t lay them – they’ve got four legs.

If you have four legs

Do you not lay eggs?

The platypus does and echidnas do

They lay their eggs and have four legs, too

Lizards and crocs and turtles that snap

Are reptiles not animals – so that is that!

So what’s with the eggs? is your next question

Is it something to do with their digestion?

This is quite clearly a matter of history

That’s why it all seems shrouded in mystery.

In the time of the Gods when the Earth was blest

The Sacred Guardians each had a quest

To Ostara it fell to look after the Sun

To warm the Earth and encourage some fun.

She nurtured Spring and the growth that it brought

She nourished the plants for food the Gods sought.

She was kind to the children – that was her habit

And especially fond She was of the Rabbit.

She kept a Bird, a beautiful thing

She loved to hear it twitter and sing.

One day when the children were acting funny

She turned her pet Bird into a Bunny!

A magical Rabbit, no less and no more,

A precious creature that She did adore.

In time this Bunny laid magical eggs!

E’en being an animal that runs on four legs!

The eggs were all coloured and bright of hue

Scarlet and yellow and green, red and blue.

The Goddess gave one to each child that she knew

Ostara eggs are Easter eggs to you.

This story was spread to folk the world over

and was carried abroad by every rover

It was earliest told by the Venerable Bede

In the years seven-hundred it was more or less creed.

Easter Bunny is honoured in chocolate with jelly

(Eat too many eggs – you’ll have a pain in your belly)

Filled with praline or crème or Turkish delight

To score the best there’s many a fight.

So that’s why our Easters are filed with mirth

And chocolate eggs that increase your girth

It’s the end of Lent – you can treat your tummy

To the naughty things that make you say “yummy”.