The Elephants’ Party

By Lily Liu

The elephants, preparing to look their best,

wearing tuxedos, robes, or an elegant white vest.

Yes, all the elephants,

wearing clothes that had the most elegance.

Whether it was white or black,

or so long and stiff it always went thwack!

Perhaps their clothes were lightly colored blue,

or silver, or grey, which even counted too.

In the lake— for goodness sake,

swam fish and turtles and frogs,

and here came rabbits and small prairie dogs.

Then elegantly swimming, along came the swan—

followed by a mother deer and its little fawn.

Going home with the belongings they’d be taking,

they heard the rooster call and saw a red dawn breaking.

Falling asleep was none too hard,

and even the dogs didn’t stay to guard.

And all they thought, and all they dreamed,

was about what happened last night, it seemed.

They dreamed only one dream:

only about the Elephants’ Party.