Mud Bath Poem by Denis Martindale

So thrilled to bits, was he that day,
He raced towards the mud!
The elephant hell-bent to play
And also cool his blood!
He jumped with one almighty splosh!
The mud jumped skyward bound!
He wasn't there to have a wash,
Just there to fool around!

'Oh, yeah! The mud gets everywhere!
Oh, yeah! This feels so cool!
Oh, yeah! Let everybody stare
And think that I'm a fool!
But this is what life's all about!
Not lazing in the sun...
Life isn't fretting, full of doubt...
Come on! Let's have some fun! '

So there he squished and squashed a while
And squelched the mud so nice...
To greet the world with one huge smile,
As if in Paradise!
To think, for him, such fun was free...
His mud bath felt so grand!
His Shangri-La, his ecstasy...
His private Disneyland!


Denis Martindale, copyright, February 2011.

The poem is based on the magnificent painting
by Stephen Gayford called 'Mud Bath'.

More Stephen Gayford poems here:
denis-martindale-dot-blogspot-dot-com