Illustration by Neal Stepp

Aloysius Learns to Share

by Dominic Martia

Where the rivers move as slowly
As honey dripping from a spoon
And Christmas looks no different
Than the thirtieth of June,

Where festoons of Spanish moss
Hang from boughs of live oak trees
And you'll see as many fire ants
As mosquitoes, gnats and bees;

Aloysius Alligator
Has a spot where he can lie
To keep his body nice and cool,
When the sun is hot and high.

About noon, he starts to paddle
To get to his favorite spot,
As the water's growing warmer,
And the sun is growing hot.

One day he saw a sight that made
His heart pound like a kettle drum:
In his spot, another gator-
Where on earth did he come from?

Aloysius became angry.
"Hey." His voice had fire in it.
"Who said that you could take that spot?
Get out of there. This minute!"

Raising his head, the gator gave
Aloysius a sorrowful look.
Then in a feeble voice he said,
"Sorry if it's your spot I took."
I just needed a bit of a rest.

I'm worn out, and I'm old too.
I'm just trying to catch my breath.
I meant no offense to you."

Yes, the gator surely was
As old and feeble as he claimed.
When Aloysius realized this,
He began to feel ashamed.

"Well, uh, maybe, uh, we could,"
He stammered and he stuttered.
He wanted to make up for all
Those harsh words he had uttered.

The old gator nodded and smiled.
Aloysius felt like a dunce.
"I understand," the old gator said,
"I was a young gator once.

Here, just let me move aside a bit,
I'm sure there's room for more than one."
That sounded good to Aloysius,
Who was sweltering in the sun.

Aloysius made a friend that day.
The two gators make a happy pair.
And life is better, all because
Aloysius learned how to share.

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