The Three Elderly Elders. Poem by Denis Barter

I once saw two elderly Elders sitting side by side.
While one elderly Elder was thin, the other was wide!
Heard the older elderly Elder say, he was feeling old
And feeling quite ill from a terrible cold!

The younger elderlyElder said he too was cold
And like the older elderly Elder, he felt old!
Though he was devastated to be growing old,
Unlike the older elderly Elder, suffered no cold!

Shortly, the elderly Elders were joined by a third,
Who passed a comment on what he'd overheard.
Said that of the elderly Elders, now numbering three,
By far the coldest and oldest, was certainly he!

Older than the first elderly Elder by half a score.
He was colder than the younger elderly Elder, what's more!
Then this elderly Elder, - the oldest elderly Elder yet seen,
Sat with two elderly Elders - young and old - in between

The two younger elderly Elders. Though both were old!
And the younger elderly Elder was cold and old,
It was the fatter elderly Elder, who was older
Than the younger elderly Elder, who was indeed colder,

And thinner than the older elderly Elder, but not as cold
As the eldest elderly Elder who came later as was told!
He, the eldest elderly Elder being neither thin nor fat
Was the oldest elderly Elder.No doubt about that!

So we've three elderly Elders, - old, older and oldest!
The one with a cold, was by no means the coldest!
And neither was the one who was cold, the oldest!
It was the eldest elderly Elder who was the coldest

Besides which, of the elderly Elders, he was oldest!
So the oldest elderly Elder with no cold was the coldest!
Such was the state of these elderly Elders on this seat.
Possibly the three wisest elderly Elders you might meet.

They, having decided which elderly Elder was oldest,
And which of these three elderly Elders felt the coldest,
They wondered who was the wisest?But we'll never know,
For, as the elderly Elders were discussing who was so?

An even older elderly Elder - the oldest elderly Elder ever seen
Arrived.This would perhaps further confuse the scene?
But before this older elderly Elder, had a chance to say,
The three younger elderly Elders rose, and walked away!

Rhymer.