The Wonderful Thing

by James von Dielingen

I’m marching through the jungle

Hunting a wonderful thing

I’m hoping to discover the

Wonderfulness it will bring

At every turn and twist

It dodges, jukes, and zips

I’ve armed myself to the gills

With nets, guns, traps, and whips

I spy the wonderful thing

Way up in the highest tree

I try to steady my aim

But it deftly eludes me

It has four arms for climbing

And four wings come out of its back

It has two fins and two flippers

For escaping a water attack

Four legs adorn its bottom

As well as a wound up coil

And under an arm grows a shovel

For digging around in the soil

Two horns jut out from its skull

And two more stick out of its face

A squirty mouth shoots smelly black liquid

That gets all over the place.

I chase it through the trees

And down on the jungle floor

It jumps into the water, and

I follow ‘til I can no more

I ache from head to toe

From all the running it took

To chase it ‘til it stopped, and

 I sneak close to get a good look

I creep along the jungle floor

Carrying only my net

But soon I stop and gander

Thoughts of capture I soon forget

For right in front of my eyes

In a tiny jungle den

Crouches the wonderful thing with food

For its wonderful children

It has three pouches on its front

And two more on its back

And each and every pouch contains

A wonderfully tasty snack

A trunk sits in the corner

Made of leaves and stems and bark

The thing pulls from it a box of glowworms 

To shed some light on the dark

Both mouths on the wonderful thing

Began to sweetly coo

And the duet makes the children sleepy

Soon I am sleepy, too 

I drop the net, the guns,

And every whip and trap

Instead I grab my camera

And pictures I soon snap

I’m marching through the jungle

Photographing some wonderful things

I’m happy to have discovered

The wonderfulness that they bring