Subject: The Upside-Down Under
From: Christopher W. Thomas (poetlaureate@poetic.com)
Host: 209-150-40-47.s47.tnt1.spg.ma.dialup.rcn.com
Date: Thurs Jan 13, 19100 at 9:39PM

The Upside-Down Under


'Tis an absolute and total wonder
To observe "the upside-down under"
... A phrase I have coined just as a whim
To describe a motion unlike anything

... Undertaken by some lively ducks ...
Who look as tho' they have gone amuck
For they suddenly jump right up in the air
And then dive right back into where they were

Going missing then for a few long minutes
Until you're convinced they've fallen in it
Then they suddenly come back to surface
Uprighting themselves - becoming perfect

Except for a long squiggly thing in their beaks
Which gives the mystery solution we seek ...
The very same creature they hold secure
Must be the one which nudg'd them, as a lure

And made them realize the worm or the eel
Which'd just touched them below ... was a meal
So they jumped, immediately, into the air ...
Coming back nose-down right into their share

... Of the feast - their tormenters surely saw
But the ducks quickly turn around that door
Making the predator then become their prey ...
And the smarter ducks have a truly good day ~

- Tristram

© Christopher W. Thomas
7pm Thurs. Jan. 13th, 2000