The Laugh of the Giraffe

The Laugh of the Giraffe

There was a stuffed giraffe in the antique shop. It's not there anymore. There is, a wire sculpture, a Victorian nightgown and the scariest looking doll I've ever seen. And a stoat. (Unless it's a weasel.) That shop is packed with stories.

This, however, is a poem from a collection called Animals in Silhouette.

If a giraffe told a joke to another giraffe

And if one (or both of them) started to laugh

How long would it take

For the laugh to quake

All the way down so the tail would shake?

It’s peculiar to ask

If giraffes can laugh

But I tell you I passed

A giraffe that laughed…

And how long did it take

For the laugh to quake

All the way down so the tail would shake?

I really can’t say, ‘cos it happens, you see

The giraffe that was laughing

Was laughing at me!