The Wombat Persisted (Patreon)

The Wombat Persisted

With credit also to Ursula Vernon, Eric Mills, and a somewhat unwitting and unwilling assist from a rather cross fellow in Texas named Craig

Forward on the wombat marched

Never shrinking, never blinking

Onward, onward, little wombat

Always thinking, always stinking!

“What’s a border?” asked the wombat “What’s all this noise about?”

“You stay on YOUR side of this wall, this wall means YOU stay OUT!”

With shouts, stomps, signs and slogans all the angry men replied. 

The wombat munched on half a root and wearily she sighed:

“You lot are barmy if you want a fence that goes around

Do you think there’s lines and maps and nations underground?

All digging creatures of the world are family to me

I bet you dug a lot to get this wall from sea to sea!

But…I can just dig beneath, you know. I burrow hard; I snuffle true!

And I could teach whoever poured those bricks a thing or two.

I’ve gone ahead and reinforced with rebar here and there

Please, it wasn’t any trouble, a wombat always builds with care.”

One two, one two, the wombat marched

Never failing, never quailing

Three four, three four, determined wombat

Always railing, mountain scaling!

“You should invest in infrastructure, if you don’t mind my advice

Not much fun but without it you’ve got all cream and no ice.”

They laughed at her and threw old soggy apples at her head

(Though she really didn’t mind. A wombat knows that fed is fed.)

“You stupid nagging dog-bear-thing! Don’t tell us what we need!

Why don’t you just go back to eating dirt and hugging trees?”

“Why?” the wombat whispered. “Do you think that oak is sad?

I’ll go at once, if I can help its branches to feel glad!”

“Just like your kind,” the people nodded. “Dumb and lazy, soft at heart!

Thinks she’s such a special snowflake, thinks she’s better, thinks she’s smart!”

The wombat squared her paws and told her shoulders not to slump

She said: “Maybe I’m not special, but I’ve got an armored rump.”

Upward through, the wombat marched

Never silent, never violent

Upward, upward, stubborn wombat

Never spent when on the scent

“Though I'm short and fuzzy I'm surprisingly muscular

Also my poop is cubical and mainly I’m crepuscular

My pouch faces backwards so I stay clean while I dig

I am not a bear, dog, badger, beaver, groundhog, rat or pig.

I am a WOMBAT proud and fierce all out of portion to my size!

But if anything is special, then a snowflake takes the prize

‘Course, one might melt, but millions will bury you with ease

Don’t go taunting winter if you do not like to freeze.

Now, if there’s work needs doing, wombats’re nice to have on hand

We won’t be any trouble, we don’t need much, nothing grand.

I’ll just make my little burrow, work hard, raise my bubs up right.

Maybe sell grass enchiladas, oh, you’ll surely want a bite!”

Over hills the wombat marched

Never weeping, never sleeping

Down the dells the wombat went

Always keeping on!

“Wait till you’ve got wombat music, wombat slang, and wombat dance!

I’m quite sure you won’t regret it if you give us half a chance

Oh, a wombat neighborhood is just the liveliest of scenes

P’raps we’ll invent a wombat-possum fusion haute cuisine!”

“Get out, get out, you must get OUT!” cried the red-faced angry crowd

“You’re not like us, we don’t have room, you smell bad and you’re loud!

You want to take our jobs and leave us starving and flat broke!

You’re just filthy vermin while we’re good and wholesome folks!”

The wombat squinted in the sun and pointed to one sign.

“Your handle’s coming loose, mate, but I think I’ve got some twine.

The “S” on DOWN WITH WOMBATS looks like it’s about to drop

You worked hard on that! I’ll fix ‘er up so nothing droops or flops.”

On I go, the wombat marched

Never ending, never bending

I’m a battler through and through

Always befriending and defending!

She took the sign and tried to patch it up as good as new

Whispering: “I’ll take the jobs American marsupials won’t do.

Years back you dug your way here too, just like mine and me

You just came across the top, while I went underneath the sea.”

“Stop it! Stop it! We don’t want your dirty wombat help!

We don’t like you, we don’t need you, here we do it all ourselves!”

No matter how she tried and tried, the angry men resisted

Nevertheless, the whole night through, the wombat still persisted.

Finally, when morning came, she’d straightened all the letters

As they packed their rage the angry men admitted it was better

The sign was whole, the twine secure, handle sturdily attached

“Guess you’re one of the good ones,” a single man called back.

“I am a wombat,” she answered him, and licked her brown fur some

“I am not special, like you said. There’s lots of me to come.

While primates rage wombats always help and build and fix

But if you push us, if you harm us, 

If you wake the humble beast

If you close the door upon us

To hoard more helpings at the feast

If you try to say that we should not exist

Then, underground or up above, you’ll find we will resist.”

Forward on the wombat marched 

Bite the power, squeal the truth!

Never going backwards

Always fighting, claw and tooth!

Reckon I can march forever, 

Chuffed the wombat: I don’t slouch!

And if you think I’m nothing much, remember—

I carry the future in my pouch