Oh, Noah went up to the hills, a just man and good.
He built an Ark, the Good Book says, of pitch and gopher wood.
The children danced before him, and the Grown-ups laughed, behind;
They thought that there was something wrong with good man Noah's mind.
And when they met him coming back for needments and supplies,
The dancing girls and dancing men leered, mocking, in his eyes,
And as he left the town once more and sought the hillward track,
The boys sent shouts and whistles shrill behind the old man's back.
Oh, Noah took the animals and saved them, two by two;
The elephant, the leopard, and the zebra, and the gnu,
The goose, the ox, the lion, and the stately unicorn
That breasted up the gangway with his single, jaunty horn,
The hipporgriff, the oryx, — all created things, in fine,
Till the dim procession straggled from the far horizon line.
There was neighing, squealing, barking,
There was many a snort and squeak,
Every sound that God gives animals because they cannot speak;
And they waddled and they straddled, and they ambled, and they ran,
And they crawled and traipsed and sidled
Each one after nature's plan.
There was pattering of hooves and toes and lift of hairy knees —
Oh, it was the greatest cattleboat that ever sailed the seas...
There was never any showman ever gave such a parade
As those beasts, that wended arkward, for the gaping people made;
And Noah's townsmen wished him well who once had wished him ill —
For they hoped he planned a circus on his solitary hill
Where he'd charge so much admission at the ark's red-postered door —
Offering such a show as mankind never set eyes on before...
But the sky grew dark with thunder throbbing like an angry drum
And the gazers saw with terror that the thing they'd mocked had come,
And that what had seemed a circus marching slowly in parade
Was the end of all creation and the world's last cavalcade.
Oh, the lightning dangled nearer like a madman's rattling chain...
As an army moves to battle came the growing sound of rain:
And it rained and rained and rained and rained
As we do understand,
Till the earth was filled with water and there wasn't any land!
O H, NOAH WAS A JUST MAN, A JUST MAN AND A GOOD ...
(YO HO, LADS, THE RAIN MUST FALL)
HE BUILT THE ARK, THE GOOD BOOK SAYS, OF PITCH AND GOPHER WOOD,
(AND THE WATER, IT TUMBLED OVER ALL).
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