The Gnu

In exchange for two kangaroos the Zoological Gardens will soon receive two South African white-tailed gnus.

I haven’t been down to the Zoo—
    Have you?—
For more than a year or two
    To view
The animals there — of the Polar bear
Or the puma I hadn’t seen hide or hair
For many a day.
And I must say
The pigeons and parrots with plumage gay
Seemed ages and ages and ages away.

For I thought, as a man will do,
    I knew
Them all, from the kangaroo
    Right through
To the whatsisname. And to see the same
Old animals seemed a trifle tame.
For I’d seen the lot —
Both the hippopot —
Amus and the thingamy — You know what.

However, I’d nothing to do
    A few
Days since; so I went to view
    The Zoo;
And an animal there seemed somewhat rare,
So I said to a keeper standing there —
A keeper who
Had nothing to do
But answer the silly remarks of the few,
Prize idiots like, say, me — and you.

I said to the man in blue,
    “It’s true,”
I said, “That I one time knew
    A few
Of the animals here; but this seems queer.
When did a thing like that appear?”
But the man said “Who
In the world are you?
Why the thing’s been here for a week or two.”
So I knew ’twas a gnu, and a new gnu too.