Harriet's Hayfever

Harriet the elephant was walking one day,
In the forests of Thailand, a long way away,
She saw some pink flowers and without thinking, put
Her long grey nose right into a bud.
She forgot of her allergy,
And that short little whiff,
Turned into an extremely long, glorified sniff.
Her nose started twitching and itching and popping,
She knew what was coming and wouldn’t be stopping,
With tissue ready and the area cleared,
She hoped it wouldn’t be as bad as she feared.
She tied herself down to the root of a tree,
And counted backwards, starting from three.
‘Here it c . . . c . . . comes!’ she quietly stuttered,
Word got around and everyone scattered.
‘Atishoo!’ she did sneeze and from out of her nose,
Shot bogies and snot and a dog with ten toes!
A wrinkled old wizard with a black and white cat,
An orang-utan in a pink bobble hat!
Three white mice and two rainbow fishes,
Six dinner plates and four pudding dishes!
Then a hundred sardines all squished in a tin
With another outside crying, ‘Let me come in!’
A hairdresser’s brush and a barber’s comb,
And one little pig trying to find his way home.
A 747 jumbo jet,
And thirty-three sea slugs all slimy and wet!
Four cheeky boys making a horrible noise,
And five giggly girls admiring their pearls.
A scientist’s brain,
A blue gecko’s tongue,
And a yellow canary singing a song!
A leather purse made from an old sow’s ear,
And a bag of chips she’d eaten last year,
‘Oh dear,’ cried the Harriet,
And fell to her knees,
‘I wish I hadn’t done such an enormous sneeze!’

Margaret Day


Runner-up
Congratulations, Margaret.
You are our fourth runner-up and will also receive a copy of the book.