Oscar the Ostrich

Deep in a place called the land down under
where beasts run free, is it any wonder
that Oscar the Ostrich was always afraid
of the terrible noises the dark forest made?

It was a good thing he’d come up with a plan.
When he became scared he’d stick his head in the sand:
“The beasts can’t see me because I see them not.”
He became invisible, or that’s what he thought.

But Oscar’s plan had one major flaw.
As you see, as I see, as all the beasts saw,
with his head in the sand and his heinie so tall,
Oscar wasn’t invisible, not even a little bit, not really at all.

This didn’t bother Oscar, nor did the breeze on his rump.
With his head buried deep he so bravely thunk
“No beast will find me right here where I am,
not the bears or the lions or the snakes or the rams

not the roos or the dingos or the sharks or the bats
not the gators or jackals or even the dirty buck-toothed rats.”
But as you know, as I know, as the beasts knew was true,
Oscar wasn’t hidden. Not to me, not to them, not even to you.

And on one unusually dark scary night
a grumpy rhinoceros was looking to fight.
The rhinoceros stomped, the rhinoceros stamped,
the rhinoceros threw a rhinoceros rant.

Oscar let out a shriek as he buried his head.
“It sure is a good thing,” poor Oscar said
“it sure is a good thing I’ve come up with this plan,
this wonderful plan to bury my head in the sand.”

The rhinoceros glared at the rump in the air
and despite Oscars plan, he knew something was there,
so he dug in his hooves and he lowered his horn
and he charged poor old oscar, who couldn’t be warned.

For Oscar the Ostrich had his head in the ground
and with his eyes buried deep he could not look around.
He had no idea what was charging his rump,
no idea at all, until he heard a great THUMP!

Poor old Oscar let out a great cry
and he thought to himself as he soared through the sky:
“Maybe I was wrong to have buried my head.
Maybe I should have stood up and faced my fears instead.”

Oscar was lucky to land far away.
The rhino wouldn’t find him, at least on that day.
And Oscar learned a good lesson, right then and right there:
When there’s danger around, keep your head in the air.

So Oscar went through the rest of his days
holding his head high in a courageous way
and as far as ostriches go, he was the bravest of the lot.
Hey, where’d he go?











Well…Maybe not.