Do elephants get bored?
Gregg Fikes 1966 (Texas)
Do elephants get bored and pull each other’s tails?
Elephants show emotion and bestow great devotion.
The greatest of the beast,
Frightening to the new seen, frightening in the least.
Elephants live in herds,
Family life undisturbed.
They show love and fellowship,
Even cry when a fellow slips.
What about a dog, our best friend?
He can become a devil when man he depends.
Train an elephant to be malevolent,
What an evil, man has since sent.
The use of elephants during war,
To increase your might, uneven the score.
It takes seven lions to kill an elephant,
Your army now quite arrogant.
The Christian viceroy at Abyssinia,
Abraha of Yemen lineage.
A formidable army, very equipped,
Might and numbers he gripped.
Abraha he had a plan,
A pilgrimage he can.
To his own built church,
His people to walk in search.
But through Mecca his path went.
His dream with Devilish intent,
Destroy the Kaaba,
Did you forget Allah?
I thought you were Christian
We all believe in Him.
Take a note from Jesus,
Let there be peace between us.
Many, many in times past,
Large armies against God tried to pass.
We know these goals to be feeble,
He always protects his people.
Go around, don’t be so proud,
Allah tells us, honor all covenants.
Let’s make a deal.
Really, that’s how you feel?
Abraha gathered his forces.
Men, elephants, horses.
A great, a formidable foe,
O, little did he know.
He camped outside Mecca.
By size he hoped to overtake us.
Maybe just by fright,
He wouldn’t even have to fight.
While they were camping,
His men did a bad thing.
They stole Abdul’s camels,
Left his field in shambles.
Abdul Muttalib, the supreme chief of Mecca,
Grandfather to the prophet was,
The leader of our religion then.
To speak for the people, he did.
Abraha sent a message to him,
“Destroy Mecca, destruction to bring within.”
Abdul requested to meet.
In his camp he took his seat.
“What is the purpose of your visit?
To plea? My intentions to pivot?”
“No, I want my camels.
For they are my mammals.”
“What! I came to destroy your place of worship,
The house of your God, your purpose.
And you ask of camels?
Take your mammals!”
“Look at my army,
Here to destroy thee!
Look at my elephants.
All my elements.”
The elephant, king of the beasts,
Frightening to the new seen, frightening in the least.
Train an elephant to be malevolent.
What an evil man has since sent.
If an elephant represents the whole earth.
Then Islam is his mighty trunk.
If an elephant represents Islam.
The Shia is his ivory tusks.
"Look, the camels are mine!
The Kaaba belongs to God, do you not see the signs?
Your fate is in your hands,
Revert from your plan.”
Abdul returned to Mecca,
Told the people the threat of.
“Remove yourselves from your homes.
Allah’s wrath is coming for those.”
They fled and went to the mountains,
Escaped thousands upon thousands.
They knew what to do;
His wrath they knew.
Abraha marched towards the city;
For them he had no pity.
A patch of dark black cloud in the sky,
Millions of birds up high.
Drop a penny from the Eiffel Tower,
Upon the ground it has great power.
The smaller the stone,
Just go higher, it’s known.
Each bird in its beak,
A small stone it keeps.
Ready to release,
Above the army, they deceased.
Only men were killed,
Their aim skilled.
No horse, no elephant hurt,
But Abraha he did divert.
Abraha, alone returned to Yemen,
Story to tell his brethren.
Little did he know, one bird bestowed.
After the story was told, the stone he let go.
Do elephants get bored and pull each other’s tails?
No, they walk in a line, fellowship is the sign.
We are all members of a herd.
Who transgressed, who heard?
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Written on November 08, 2022
Submitted by grggfks on November 09, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:58 min read
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Quick analysis:
Scheme | AbcC xxxx xxDE ffdd gxhh iijj eexg bkll xxmm xnoo xxpp glqq rrss gxxx kxtt uuss xlss vvnn xCDE xxxx wxxi gxxx xxxx vvyy zz1 1 xxxc 2 2 3 3 bbxp aw4 4 |
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Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,677 |
Words | 794 |
Stanzas | 29 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"Do elephants get bored?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/144246/do-elephants-get-bored?>.
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