Jumbo Jet

Spike Milligan 1918 (Ahmednagar, India) – 2002 (Rye, United Kingdom)



I saw a little elephant standing in my garden,
I said 'You don't belong in here', he said 'I beg your pardon?',
I said 'This place is England, what are you doing here?',
He said 'Ah, then I must be lost' and then 'Oh dear, oh dear'.

'I should be back in Africa, on Serengeti's Plain',
'Pray, where is the nearest station where I can catch a train?'.
He caught the bus to Finchley and then to Mincing lane,
And over the Embankment, where he got lost, again.

The police they put him in a cell, but it was far too small,
So they tied him to a lamp-post and he slept against the wall.
But as the policemen lay sleeping by the twinkling light of dawn,
The lamp-post and the wall were there, but the elephant was gone!

So if you see an elephant, in a Jumbo Jet,
You can be sure that Africa's the place he's trying to get!
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Submitted by RobertHaigh on June 27, 2020

Modified by RobertHaigh on June 27, 2020

49 sec read
143

Quick analysis:

Scheme AAXX BBBX CCDD EE
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 802
Words 164
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 2

Spike Milligan

Terence Alan Patrick Seán Milligan KBE, better known as Spike Milligan, was born in British India. His talent for comedy was evident from an early age, and he found fame as a member of the Goons, along with Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine. He wrote many books, including volumes of comic verse. He was also a passionate campaigner for animal rights and the environment. more…

All Spike Milligan poems | Spike Milligan Books

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