SPEAKING OF A PLATYPUS

 

Tell me something real.

Perhaps it is a strange request.

A platypus is real;

It is a mammal that lays eggs

And apparently it is venomous too

Which I didn’t know but know now

Because of a child to whom this knowledge is real.

Tell me something real.

Perhaps I should explain.

Some people, they don’t say much of anything

And others say much, yet they don’t say anything

And still others speak their mind concerning everything

Yet of things real, they don’t say much of anything.

Tell me something real.

Perhaps it is really rather simple.

Like the bird in the forest

That called out in melody

And when I asked him why

He listened and then called out again;

And like the other bird in the forest

That called out in melody

And when I asked her why

She listened and then called out again.

Tell me something real.

Perhaps it is like a melody.

Because when I stood in the heart of the forest

There were no longer two birds calling out in intervals

But one melody rising to the Lord.

Tell me something real.