THe Hippotamus

These are amazing creatures
Water Giants they
Live with many crocodiles
Who it seems keep out of the way
You see respect apparently
Is the order of the day
The Hippo cannot swim
It floats it dives it walks
Away
It holds its breath and walks a.ong the
Bottom that it does
Carving put a channel
It gets the rivers buzz
It engineers the ebb and flow
And is certainly a force
Which when the rains are felt
Can be a truly guiding force

They can stay down 5 minutes
Some longer tis said
Up to to say ten minutes
Thats their watershed
They have some perseverence
And tenacity
A single minded view on things
And a brimming constancy

The obdurate and can be
Aggressive as hell
Males wanting to muscle in on their
Harems
Then a spell of showing off their
Massive tusks
Can help one change ones mind
There is nothing fickle about the HIPPO
As all comers soon find
As the rivers start to evaporate
It does become a pain
Their hides are thick but their bellies
Are soft so its a bane
The hot sun they need water
And arid and dry terrain Means tney must find water
And lay in it again

They have this well male habit
Of putting it about
Squirting shit from their anus
They leave nothing to doubt
Its always hot and smelly
And it wards off passers by
I am king of my harem
Come close and you will die

At night is when they come ashore
And get to grips with grass
They eat some 30 kilos worth
Really in a class
Of foraging the wild stalks
Which is when Lions tend to feed
So when the Hippo is at risk
When the pride well could succeed
As the water levels do subside
The birds come in to see
If they can have a good old feast
On the fish of ourse its key
Tensions rise the males get hard nosed
And uncompromisingly stern
Lashing out at each other
With what is brazen concern.