I once knew a man
called Pelican Jim
and everyone liked
to make fun of him.
They asked if he stood
on one leg when he slept,
(their ignorance showed
when that was said),
of course it’s a stork
that sleeps on one leg;
or if he caught fish
to eat from the lake.
If he might want to migrate
and go south for the winter
they would often discuss
and then hotly debate.
But their fishy comments
did not upset him,
he would swallow them whole
and digest them within,
although he sometimes
blushed pink,
(from his wide feet
right up to his chin),
but then that
would make him
Flamingo Jim!
Yes, everyone liked
to make fun of him.
I wonder what happened
when he finally left us that night,
(did he go swimming
or did he take flight),
I often think of Pelican Jim
and sometimes regret
that we made fun of him…
I read in the paper
in black and white
of a strange sighting
in the dark of the night,
of a man standing
on one leg in the pond
with a face like a bird
and a sad woeful song…
