MelJayNaray Poem: Ten Little Animal Friends

Hi all! Here's a poem that has taken a couple of years to get it to its current form! I started this during my university years and got the idea after watching the film "And then there were none" one afternoon...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Then_There_Were_None_%281945_film%29
 
I was captivated- I had never seen it or heard the poem it features before and thought it was so clever- not that I advocate murder- I just really thought it was a brilliant story full of suspense and the poem was powerful- seemingly innocent with sinister undertones. I sooo wanted to write a poem like that!! "Ten Little Animal Friends" shares lots of characteristics with "And Then There Were None" but I tried hard to put my own stamp on it. I also tried to achieve the same nursery-rhyme style rhythm that makes "And Then There Were None" so powerful. 


Something else that could have been a source of inspiration was something that happened during my school days. I think I was in either year 8 or year 9 of secondary school, so I would have been 13 or 14 years old. My class was sent to the library and we all had to choose a book to do some quiet reading. My friend couldn't find anything she liked and as time was running out she quickly picked a very thin paperback book that looked as though it was aimed for primary school children. We both laughed at her choice and got on with reading. Anyway at the end of the lesson, my friend turned to me and said something along the lines of "You know, this is actually a really good book!" She told me that it was about a mysterious Bentley car that had only ever been owned by men with the name "Edward"- and something bad always happened to them. We read it together that lunchtime and were amazed at how brilliant the story was. How better to learn not to judge a book by its cover! Somehow, as with "And Then There Were None" the appearance of simplicity made the dark emerging story even more ominous and menacing...Scary stuff! I guess that's why I used the idea of animal friends going out to play. I'd really love to hear your comments!

Ten little animal friends

By Melanie Jay Narayanasamy

Ten little animal friends all went out to play

But only one came back home that same day

The Spider, the Hyena, the Magpie, the Snake and the Cat most Curious,

All set off calmly without making a fuss!

And they were joined by the Robin, the Grizzly Bear, the Mole, Piggy and the Wise Little Owl,

At first beaming with laughter without so much as a growl!

But through the flaws of carelessness and neglect

Certain actions began to show their effect

It started when Spider told a lie and spun a web of deceit,

The web tangled him up and he tripped on his feet

So to continue the journey he had to decline

Thus the ten little animal friends became nine

Hyena saw what happened to Spider and she laughed till her tummy ached

She laughed so hard, she ended up choking and wouldn’t wake

The others couldn’t do anything but leave her in a state

So off went the animal party now transformed to eight

Before leaving Magpie took Hyena’s ring from her paw

He got found out and was sent away for breaking the law

So with another member unable to proceed

The seven remaining went at a speed

During the journey Snake decided to spread gossip to poison Magpie’s name

The poison rebounded and he just wasn’t the same

The others couldn’t find an antidote to remedy the way he got his kicks

So very quickly the party of seven became only six

Curious Cat was restless so she took Snake’s poison to mess with her head

But she’d already used up her nine lives and ended up dead

It would have been quite nice to keep her alive

But it was not to be, so death turned six into five

Robin disturbed Cat’s funeral with his tiresome song

Grizzly Bear pushed the Robin telling him it was wrong

He pushed much too hard and Robin became still and no longer sang

Grizzly Bear felt bad and cut himself falling with a bang

Two events spreading effects to such a degree

Since first five became four then, four became three

Mole heard what happened but he secretly hated Grizzly Bear so he went to bed and let him bleed
His sleep lasted too long and he forgot to take his feed

The animals left the Mole behind to catch his forty winks

Noticing for a moment that his heart did not rise, nor did it sink

They walked and reminisced about the time they’d been a queue

And how they’d reduced so rapidly to only two

Later as hunger struck, Piggy ate all of Mole’s dinner as well as his own

Which made him keel over and clutch his tummy with a moan

On reflection Piggy regretted his diet but with the situation too late reviewed

The remaining friend was left in solitude

All the events had undoubtedly triggered

The ten little animal friends to be a troop no longer double-figured

The neighbours were most concerned

When they found just one had returned

One wise little Owl sat on a branch full of woe

Unlike his friends he realised that you reap what you sow

© Melanie Jay Narayanasamy 2011