Poetry Friday: Something Silly

It’s been a long time since I’ve participated in Poetry Friday, and the reason, more than anything else, is this – I tend to write happy, silly poems about cats and cups of tea, and the world has seemed so dark and terrible these past few months that anything silly felt inappropriate. People would be sharing deep, introspective poems on the nature of the world and the many crises we are collectively experiencing, and all I’d have to bring to the table would be a few rhyming couplets about the weather.

The more I thought about it, though, the more I came to realize that perhaps it is precisely in our most stressful moments that we need a little something to make us smile, and to bring a sprinkle of cheeriness into our days. I did a bit of searching on ye old interwebs and found this gem of a silly poem that I hope will give you at least a momentary giggle. I do so love elephants, don’t you?

Eletelephony

Laura E. Richards

Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant—
No! No! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone—
(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I’ve got it right.)
Howe’er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telephee—
(I fear I’d better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)

I hope you are able to find moments of joy and happiness in even the most stressful of situations, both in poetry and in your every day life. Laughter might not always be the best medicine, at least not when it comes to novel viruses, but it certainly can make you feel better!