A Snake Swallowed Poor Henry

By Mike Lucas

A snake swallowed poor Henry on his visit to the zoo.

A snake swallowed poor Henry and I know this to be true,

For he disappeared the moment that his classmates turned their backs,

And the snake grew fat and lumpy half a moment after that.

A snake swallowed poor Henry as he licked at his ice-cream.

A snake swallowed poor Henry, though we didn’t hear him scream.

All we heard was slither, slither and a satisfying hiss

And the snake grew fat and lumpy half a moment after this.

A snake swallowed poor Henry on our zoo visiting day.

A snake swallowed poor Henry while he looked the other way.

Someone shouted, ‘Look up in the sky! A flying alligator!’

And the snake grew fat and lumpy just a half a moment later.

A snake swallowed poor Henry but nobody found out why.

A snake swallowed poor Henry as he stared up at the sky.

All they saw was one boy gone and one long, fat and lumpy creature

And a smear of chocolate ice-cream on the lips of me, their teacher.