Giants of Equal Stature
Along the river
near the lock in Gulhanny
Lived a dragon
by the name of Cruel
And there, too,
was a giant of equal stature
That went by the name
of Shamus O’Toole.
Shamus’s dinner
Was always served late
For it took all evening
to cook his food.
When he ate
the land did shake
And to Cruel’s way of thinking
that was rude.
Cruel complained,
bitterly too,
About the noise
and the shaking of the land.
He suggested that Shamus
should try eating oaks,
“They are quieter,” he said,
“and grow close at hand.”
Well O’Toole let his anger
get loose
Attacking Cruel
with a pepper-tree
The Dragon laughed
and spit-out fire
Then the tree, that poor tree
was history.
“I do not eat food
of horse and goat!”
O’Toole bellowed
in a echoing voice,
“If you are bothered
then fly away;
But I must stay,
I have no choice.
Cruel thought
about what Shamus had said,
The idea of moving
Had not crossed his mind
So he flew to places
high in the mountains
Where sleeping was easy
And silence was kind.
Now, no-one knows
if this story is true
Or if it’s a fable
based on lore;
And I suppose
it doesn’t matter
To those that live
far from that shore.
***
It is said that when dragons
aren’t believed in
And when no-one thinks
that giants exist
Then they disappear
from man’s earthly visions
And are swallowed up
by the shadows in the mist.
D. Thurmond / JE Falcon
01-27-2017
Rew. 05-15-2019
