To the Artist's Page                    To our home page

To Melvin Sandberg's previous piece     To Melvin Sandberg's next piece

The Eclipse

The cannibals sat down to eat,
The tourists were to be their treat,
When Britain's peerless majesty
Sent help from far across the sea.

Her subjects stewed in the great pot
Which soon was getting very hot;
The children cried out in despair
The missionary said a prayer
And pleaded with his God in vain,
When all at once a silver plane
Came to a perfect landing near;
A voice rang out both loud and clear
"You wards of Britain have no fear
For Doctor Knowitall is here."

A young boy did not understand
And said, "He's just a fat old man;
He really isn't very tall--
Why do they call him Knowitall?"

His mother gasped in shocked surprise
And looking in her son's brown eyes,
Said "He can make a mute bird sing;
My child, that man knows everything!"

The doctor's humble modesty
Was plain for everyone to see;
He gazed upon the sandy shore
And murmured, "EVerything and more!"

He sauntered to the native chief
Who stared at him in disbelief,
And from his pocket took a book,
Letting the chief have a quick look
Of sun and moon and distant stars,
Uranus, Saturn, Earth and Mars;
Then pointing to the blazing sun
Said, "I don't want to spoil your fun,
But you must let my people go
Or I will cause the wind to blow
The moon into the sun's gold face,
And only darkness will replace
The sun's bright rays that keep you warm;
You all will perish in the storm
That soon will sweep across the land
Leaving you dead upon the sand!"

The chief replied, "This cannot be;
No man can hide the sun!" said he;
When all at once the sky grew black--
The moon had started her attack.

The frightened chief cried, "Set them free,
His magic is too strong for me!"
In haste they boarded the jet plane
And saw the British Isles again.

To everybody's keen delight
The grateful queen made him a knight;
She introduced him at the ball,
"Behold, Sir Doctor Knowitall!"

To the top of this page