The Cockroach: (poetry for schools)

 

An elephant and a cuckoo

had been friends for many years,

then one day a cockroach

reduced them both to tears

 

He told them of the hardships

endured by bugs like him,

of being despised by mankind

and how he lost a limb

 

Being forced to live in sewers

and cellars, dark and dank

had given him rheumatism

arthritis and cramp

 

The elephant and cuckoo

composed themselves at last

and gently asked the cockroach

to put aside his past

 

They offered him a brand new nest

to solve his current plight,

very clean, with no bad odours

warm and dry and light

 

Cockroach thanked them gratefully

and moved in with a will,

but the lack of dirt and rotten food

soon made him feel quite ill

 

He tried his very utmost

to put up with cleanliness

but something made him hanker

for the life that he knew best

 

It's called an 'Ecosystem'

and like cogwheels in a clock

each has their unique function

which makes the whole thing work

 

So cockroach told his new-found friends

that what will be, will be

and even lowly bugs like him

make an 'Ecology'