BEASTLY TALES

THE LISTENING POST

“Before conversational spittle’s completed their flight through the air,”
“He’s poo-pooed the suggestion, as though it wasn’t there.”
Bryson Huffleweight then snorted in derision,
He could be extremely narrow minded, with no wide horizon.
Would he be thought ridiculous, not to be taken seriously?
Thought to be just babbling, perhaps even deliriously?

“I cannot abide that continuous mutter,”
“About this, that and the other, he does utter.”
“And when I suggest a thing, or two”
“It’s denigrated mightily, foot’s in the wrong shoe!”
Huffleweight had been thinking, about taking advice,
It was clearly something he did not think to be nice.
Perhaps I should listen more, at least make out I agree,
Before rejecting the counsel arbitrarily.
So the next time his friend, Timothy Dear,
Sat down with him so he could bend his ear,
He thought his tactic would be to keep very quiet,
Venture absolutely nothing that could cause a riot.
And this, indeed, is just what he did do,
After all, equanimity is what he’d pursue.
Dear Timothy prattled on with many complaints,
Saying, “They are what they are, and they ain’t what they aints.”

Huffleweight kept silent, kept his peace,
Didn’t try to pull the wool over his eyes, not even a fleece.
“Hey, why don’t you say sumpink?”
“Tell me just what you do think.”
This from Timothy Dear,
“Now say sumpink, you’re acting real queer.”
But Huffleweight wouldn’t comment a word,
He just sat there, as though he had not heard!