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”.
