Dinotherium

D

The Dreadful

Dinotherium he
Will have to do his best for D.
The early world observed with awe
His back, indented like a saw.
His look was gay, his voice was strong;
His tail was neither short nor long;
His trunk, or elongated nose,
Was not so large as some suppose;
His teeth, as all the world allows,
We graminivorous, like a cow's.

He therefore should have wished to pass
Long peaceful nights upon the Grass,
But being mad the brute preferred
To roose in branches , like a bird.*
A creature heavier than a whale,
You see at once, could hardly fail
To suffer badly when he slid.

(as he always did).
His fossil therefore comes to light
All broken up: and serve him right.

MORAL

If you were born to walk the ground,
Remain there; do not fool around.

*We have good reason to suppose He did so, from his claw-like toes.

(An excerpt from A Moral Alphabet by Hilaire Belloc)