Far away and elsewhere <br />Is a place we do not dare <br />To go alone <br />For there the leopard and the tiger <br />All the steamy hot day wander <br />Silently and soft of paw. <br /> <br />Through the jungle thickets <br />You can hear the sound of crickets <br />Scir scirring in one's ear <br />And the caw caw caw <br />Of the parakeet <br />Telling us he is near. <br /> <br />But when they silent fall <br />The trees loom close and tall <br />And menace seems to flow <br />As paths more tangled grow <br />For there is no place to go <br />But on into the jungle. <br /> <br />Dark sullen silence all about <br />Only the drip drip drip from the leaves <br />Then all at once a noise breaks out <br />Monkeys jabber, cockatoos shout <br />Ear splitting shrieks resound <br />As every creature joins the fray. <br /> <br />Only the great ape sits quiet in his tree <br />Amused by all this levity <br />Then stretches out one hairy arm <br />And swings himself into the air <br />From branch to branch with ne'er a care, <br />For he is lord of the jungle way up there.<br /><br />Margery Rehman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/far-away-and-elsewhere-a-poem-for-a-child/
