The Gobblers

A Fable of Fools, Part 2

I think he didn’t understand but he pretended he had.
But I wouldn’t be the one to know.
But I’m sure it was the racehorse rider
Who screamed “fire!”
When he saw the cigarette
And jumped off the palmyra palm
And the piper just went on playing
His Cs at D#.
He didn’t care but he couldn’t help it either.
I don’t know how long the racehorse rider took
To realize he wasn’t drowning
And swam back to the foot of the palm tree
As wet as the plumber’s cigarette
And forgot to ask us the time.
I was relieved.
But no one else noticed.
And when it started to rain
The intellectual went to a lower sheltered branch
And said he loved the rain.
While the plumber just gazed at the clouds and waited for eternity.
The racehorse rider was sheltered
And by then he’d already fallen asleep
Snoring hopelessly loud
In time with the D#s.
Which couldn’t be heard anyway
Because of the rain.