The Long Creature
Tom was travelling on a train
(Which always made him glad),
Going to Benson, Arizona
With his Mom and Dad.
From Benson they were driving to
A cabin near Amado,
There to stay the whole week long,
Incommunicado.
No clouds were in the morning sky.
The sun shone on the plain.
And everything was fine, until
Something stopped the train!
They all got off and found that they
Were nowhere near a station.
And then they saw what caused the trip’s
Discontinuation.
A creature sat across the tracks,
A creature very rare—
One Tom had never seen before.
He could not help but stare.
So long, and yet so very low!
So purple, pink, and hairy!
Right away Tom knew it was
Extraordinary.
The train conductor said, “See here!
You’re making me be late!
If you won’t move off of the tracks,
We won’t arrive by eight!
You are so long, and yet so squat!
So ugly, pink, and hairy!
You look like something that is really
Semi-legendary!”
An older man came up and said,
“Don’t make it go! Look, you!
We must take it back to study,
Inside a cozy zoo!
So lengthy, yet so thick-bodied!
So lavender and hairy!
I believe this thing must be
Interplanetary!”
The two men shouted back and forth
And others joined in too.
And soon they all were arguing
Over what to do.
The ideas that they all put forth
Got bigger and more drastic,
And still the creature sat and stared,
Unenthusiastic.
So Tom unwrapped a Twinkie he’d
Been saving for dessert.
He then walked off a little ways
And sat down in the dirt.
Tom held the Twinkie in his palm
And smiled, simply waiting.
Without moving, Tom just sat,
Unanticipating.
The creature looked, and sniffed the air,
And stared right at the treat.
And then, as everybody watched,
It rose up on its feet.
Tom, he didn’t dare to move
And so he simply waited
As it crawled right up to him,
Reinvigorated.
The creature made a squeaky sound,
As it ate the Twinkie.
Tom pet him on the head and said,
“I will call you Squinky.”
His Dad said, “You should name it Spot.”
His Mom said, “Call it Leah.”
But Tom said, “I like Squinky, for its
Onomatopeia.”
The train conductor said, “Hooray!
The track is free at last!”
The older man said, “Come here, Squinky!
My lab can be a blast!”
But Squinky didn’t want to go
With anyone so nosy,
Until he had agreed to play
Ring-around-the-rosy.
So many people greeted them
In Benson, Arizona.
They came from all around the state,
From Yuma to Sedona.
The trains were ringing all their bells,
All around the station.
The sound they made was quite a pretty
Tintinnabulation.