Gene Poem by Frank Halliwell

I had this tuneful fellow that's lived out the back for years,
And I'll relate a story that may well bring you to tears,
I guess that I'll just call him 'Gene', in time you may learn why
I dispossessed him in a storm with no right of reply!


I had been busy counting sheep and having me a nap
When wakened in a panic by an awful thunder clap
I found a handy rag and wiped away the window's fog
And there atop my water tank sat Gene, the green tree frog.


The water pouring down the drain had pushed him from his home
I seized the opportunity to force ol' Gene to roam.
A piece of metal mesh was formed to block the entrance door
And thus ensure that Froggy couldn't live there anymore.


Now Gene's among the homeless ones, it's sad but you will see
Why I treated him so badly when he'd done no harm to me.
Now he'd been living in the drain, down which my water flows
And frogs do other things than sing, as everybody knows!
Mating, defecating, urinating, fornicating,
None of which are too inviting where your drinking water goes.


And I pondered of my coffee as each new day would begin
Just what by-products of Froggy's life might be contained therein!
So in the end, Gene had to go to seek out new terrain,
But I'll miss his song, .. the happy sound of 'Singin' in the Drain'!
o0o