THE BALLAD OF ZOLA THE ZEBRA

Zola the Zebra

lived far, far away

and always had so much fun,

with lots of friends

they laughed and played

and sang beneath the hot sun.

 

At first, her friends

were a little confused

and thought her a curious sight,

for unlike her friends

with their wonderful stripes,

Zola was born purest white.

 

She never did mind

standing out from the crowd

for she was such a plucky young gal,

and she liked being different,

it made her feel special,

though stripes were so nice as well.

 

Now, Zola's birthday 

was coming up soon,

so her friends came up with a plan,

they went to the village, 

just on down the track

and bought a big set of pans.

 

Then off they went 

with a clattering-clang

to the bushes on top of the hill,

collecting Blueberries, 

Raspberries and more,

until their pans were all full.

 

Back home again now,

to clean and wash

their dust and dirt covered hooves,

then they stood in the pans 

and squashed the berries

until all the juice had come loose.

 

They called for Zola

to come and look

at the multi-coloured pastes,

she sniffed the pans 

of sweet smelling goo

and couldn’t resist a taste.

 

Then along came Delilah 

with her big bushy tail

and asked her to stand still and straight

as she dipped the tip

in the colourful pans

and on Zola's back she did paint.

 

With long sweeping strokes

and humming a tune,

Delilah worked with a smile,

until all the pans 

were good and empty,

which took her quite a long while.

 

But what a glorious 

and colourful sight 

they had before their wide eye’s,

for Zola now had 

such a rainbow of stripes 

and a great big beaming smile.

 

She giggled and laughed

as she pranced around

posing like a colourful gem,

as she thought to herself

"How lucky am I,

to have all these wonderful friends!"

 

*

(Taken from “The Book Of Loops And Laughter.” Available on Amazon Kindle and paperback.)

Written by Darren Scanlon, 12th October 2015.

?2015 Darren Scanlon. All rights reserved.