One more
which I wrote about 6 years ago.

The dog who was a cat inside,
From puppy-hood had tried to hide
His feelings for the other cats
And tendency for chasing rats.

Mice he cornered, trees he climbed,
And other dog-cats tried to find.
But his main dilemma was with food,
He tried his best not to be rude,

Though every day, within his dish
He found beef heart – he wanted fish!
His brothers though him mad when first
He supped on milk to quench his thirst.

And then one day he met a horse
Who always felt full of remorse,
Because horse knew that inside him
There lived a chinese pangolin.

Poor horse and dog were most upset,
Needed to run, escape, forget
The taunting, heckling, laughing jeers,
They had received from all their peers.

And so they left to walk for miles
All across the British isles,
Searching for justification
For their unique situation.

Together roamed our mixed-up pair,
Clad in the wrong kind of hair.
They knew they made a matchless sight,
As they roamed on into the night,

Looking for answers to their riddle,
Were they different in the middle?
Was each abnormal for his wish
To dine on ants and feed on fish?

On their way, they met a monkey,
Who believed he was a donkey,
And a mouse who said he knew
That inside him there grew a gnu.

Our little band of pilgrims walked,
And on their way, they talked and talked
And found they all felt pretty good,
As finally they understood

That they were normal in their way,
Despite internal disarray.
And so they formed a happy band
Who wandered all throughout the land,

Collecting creatures who believed
That as freaks they were perceived,
And happily they lived together
With friends of fur, scale, and feather.

The moral of this story is
To be yourself, for the truth is,
Those that matter do not care
What skin you have (or clothes you wear)
And love you more for being you—
Just ask dogcat, he know’s it’s true!

many apologies for length ;-)

btw, Empress - I like your appendix poem, but agree with chickenlady - the first stanza could be lost, giving you a much tighter piece.
( ascorbate, Wed 7 Jan 2009, 13:56, Reply)