Gulliver's Travels by Tyler Gonzales
We open at fair Lilliput
Where little men run afoot.
Peaceful as ever to us they seem,
But war is brewing across the stream.
Subjugated by their king,
The rebel clan begins to scheme.
They build great ships to sail through water
Like a model boat built by a father.
But Lilliput has no mind for this,
They romp with glee like nothing’s amiss.
They flip and turn with acrobatic grace,
Their government quite like a race.
Another somersault from a tight rope walker
To earn the position of royal talker.
When the king claps, they all sigh with relief
This time, the competition will be brief.
The storm is coming, they’re unprepared
Unless a miracle appears from thin air.
And on the shore of their Lilliput sleeps
A giant mountain on which they leap.
They tie the giant with ropes of tweed,
Prod him from their noble steeds.
They pinch and poke with curiosity,
The giant man who makes them seem so bitty.
He awakes with a start, the mountainous creature
But pain will be his only teacher.
He tries to pull the rope asunder,
But succeeds only to make their tempers thunder.
The army pulls him back to their city
Their efforts slow, and them he pities.
But hunger bites into his stomach
And for their help he must plummet.
They bring him tiny morsels fit for their size
And to his mouth they bring it rise.
He eats like a whale in the great seas
Pops the victuals like peas.
Drinks the wine by the barrels,
Their royal feast, now in perils.
The great beast, sated, goes back to sleep
But awoken again by the great king’s shriek.
His terror melts to fascination
About the giant’s machinations.
He plots like the city across the way
Swings his legs over the quay.
The giant takes him in his hand
And together they hatch a plan.
Tear apart their fleet of ships
The king says from the side of his lips.
We’ll keep you here and feed you provision
If Lilliput you keep from derision.
He thinks it over, that mountain man,
And contemplates this king’s demand.
Okay, I’ll fight your battles, he pledges
And heads towards the kingdom’s edges.
With a great large splash of his boot
He smacks huge waves over the fruit
Of the labors of those tiny people
Who swear at him from their peep holes.
He grabs their little wooden boats
And cuts them as he would a throat;
From cheek to cheek and ear to ear
He consummates their greatest fear.
When he finishes with his destruction,
He wipes his hands of that production.
He steps back into his king’s lands
And bows to his adoring fans.
A great feat he had swiftly begot
And their hearts alit with warrish thought.
Let’s finish them now!
They cried with a loud row.
If we kill them, the better off we’ll be,
Then we can free the giant tree!
He liked the sound of freedom ringing,
But troubled was his mind of bringing
Those poor sops on the other side
Down beneath his rolling tide.
I did what you asked and I’ll do no more,
And he walked back to his sleeping shore.
A boat he caught sight with startling ease,
It rolled up to him with just the breeze.
You’ll never believe the story I’ll tell,
Of Lilliput and their murderous swell!
The crew all shook their heads and sighed.
The sea had claimed another’s mind.
With soup and orange they raised his health
And marveled at this Lilliput’s wealth.
They believed nary a second
But fantasy their minds had beckoned.
They laughed at his insanity
But dreamed of that place beyond the sea.
To England they arrived with haste,
And to his life he returned, disgraced.
For who could trust a doctor gone mad?
One so rife with mysterious glad?
Who knows if Gulliver truly did visit
An island of men who looked of smidges.
He claimed he did till the day he died
With a gleeful look, and a twinkling eye.