ELEPHANT

Bradford Morrow

Majestic and playful and big and gray, the elephant is also helpful. He understands that without his succor some people would go hungry and their children would suffer and weep. So the mighty elephant submits to walking in circles with his friends, trunk to tall, trunk to tail, and he sits back on his hind legs for the crowd, and his magnificent tree- thick front legs dangle delicately, and his ears flap. His cousins back in Burma work too, but have more pleasant days than he. Teak logs heavy as trucks they toss down hillsides where the loggers float them over the river to the lumber mill. Which can throw the two-ton tree farther out into the clear Burmese air? they wonder, together as they tusk that teak, toss and tease. They are incorrigible tons of strength and harmony. Their hide is ancient, their eyes sweet, they roll in dust to cool off, they make their own showers. They know how to live in the tent and help their keepers pay the rent. They know how to frolic out under the sun. They're learners. They do not forget, and they don't hold grudges.

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