TO JESSIE
("one of the Zoo's most popular elephants," now deceased).
Jessie of the melting eye,
Wreathed trunk and horny tegum-
Ent, whom I have joyed to ply
With the fugitive mince-pie
And the seasonable legume,
Youth has left me; fortune too
Flounts my efforts to annex it;
Still, I occupy the view,
Bored but loath to leave, while you
Make the inevitable exit.
Ne'er again for blissful rides
Shall our shouting offspring clamber
Up your broad and beetling sides;
Ne'er again, when eventide's
Coming turns the skies to amber
And the fluting blackbirds call,
Poised above a bale of fodder
In your well-appointed stall
Will you muse upon it all,
Patient introspective plodder.
Once, an anxious mother's care,
Day by day you roamed the jungle,
Felt the sunshine, sniffed the air;
Life, methinks, was passing fair;
But of that no mortal tongue'll
Tell. Perhaps you never thought
If it bored you or enraptured
Till the wily hunter caught
You and all your friends and brought
Home to England, bound and captured.
Jessie, fairest of your race,
Now you're gone and few will miss you;
There will come to take your place
Creatures less replete with grace;
Elephants of grosser tissue
Will intrigue the public sight;
That, old girl, 's the common attitude.
Still, these few poor lines I write
May preserve your memory bright,
Since the pen is dipped in gratitude.
Algol.
