JONATHAN SHIPTON
CHILDREN'S AUTHOR & CARD MAKER
My First Elephant
The first time Louis saw the elephant he just did not believe it,
It was too huge and grey and ridiculous.
It wasn’t just the fat head or the flappy ears;
There was just way too much nose for a real animal.
He walked round with that smile on his face which said ‘I know what’s going on here
This is one of your grown up tricks to fool little children.’
Of course his mum and dad kept on insisting
That it was a real elephant and it was alive,
But they were trying not to smile and
Louis knew that’s what grownups do.
Later on they would say: ‘do you remember when…?’
And it would be something like believing in fairies or giants or dragons
But this time Louis was not going to be fooled.
He knew exactly what this ‘elephant’ was:
This ‘elephant’ was just a giant puppet with two grownups inside it.
It was quite clever he had to admit that,
Because he couldn’t even see the zip!
But he certainly wasn’t
Going to touch its grey wrinkly skin
And there was no way he was going to
Sit on it!
The two men were just waiting for that.
Probably they would make him fall off
And then everyone would start laughing.
Of course his mum and dad could pretend to touch its skin;
Because they were old and they were part of the trick.
And of course his little sister could sit on top;
Because she was only a baby.
But
Any six year old could see
It Wasn’t Alive
and
It Wasn’t Real.
Although later on Louis changed his mind
About the men inside;
There were three.