Hee-Haw Hee-Haw Ribbit Ribbit Whinny! (Or The Beastly Adventures Of Maya's Schoolteacher) Poem by H E Alexander

Young Maya one day went into her school,
to find her teacher had turned into a mule,
'What's happened? ' said Maya, shutting the door,
but all Miss replied was 'Hee-haw, Hee-haw! '

'No need, ' said Maya, 'for such a long face,
'we'll find a way to get you out of this place.
'Just put on this hoodie to cover your head;
it might even give you a shred of street cred! '

But, alas, the hoodie (which she'd had for years)
would not cover over the poor mule's big ears,
so, Maya ripped from the window a dusky pink curtain,
which would do the job nicely (of that she was certain) .

They walked out of the school and onto the road
and then curiously the mule turned into a toad!
'What are you doing, making yourself an exhibit? '
cried Maya, to which Miss replied, 'Ribbit, Ribbit! '

Quickly, the young girl hid the toad in her backpack
then stowed it away in her ramshackle back-shack.
But when she came out again later that day,
she found a horse in her garden, eating some hay!

'Is that you, Miss, ' Maya ventured to ask,
'have you gone and donned another type of mask?
'I'm not sure it's you; you look too tall and so skinny, '
then the horse looked up and gave a loud whinny!

'Oh for heaven's sake, ' Maya said, 'what shall I do?
'are you going to turn next into an elephant or gnu? '
Unanswered, she strode back towards her house,
turned around suddenly to see no horse, but a mouse!

'That's better, ' Maya declared quietly to herself
'I can now put you safely to bed on my shelf.'
But she woke in the night, thought a lion was roaring,
but realized with relief it was just her dad snoring!

When Maya awoke bright and early the next morn,
she found that the mouse had upped sticks and gone.
She searched upstairs, then down the stairs she thudded,
but even there found no animal, cold or warm blooded!

Maya went into school and there she saw Miss (normal) ,
so told her that yesterday she'd been all sorts of animal.
Miss angrily said such lies would see her in jail,
but Maya, as Miss turned, spied a glimpse of cat's tail!