Dash's Campsite

                                     
                                                          Ode to the Coco Palm

                                                    Ole feather duster of a tree
                                                    Mop-topped growth of spindly form
                                                    Just between you and me
                                                    How do you last the savage storm

                                                    Winds arise, ships are sunk
                                                    Typhoon, tornado, hurricane
                                                    Rend your thatch and tear your trunk
                                                    Yet they blown on and you remain

                                                    In the struggle to evolve
                                                    Wherefore comes such sense of purpose
                                                    Do your roots reach deep resolve
                                                    Not apparent on the surface

                                                   Gales only serve to spread your seed
                                                   Dislodged they voyage to distant shores
                                                   The cocoanut need never speed
                                                   For safe within are ample stores

                                                   And once alight on foreign sand
                                                   Into the beach extends the root
                                                   A pole-like trunk emerges and
                                                   Fronds unfurl in limp salute

                                                  Another coco colony founded
                                                  The palmy nation stakes its claim
                                                  The tropic climes are all surrounded
                                                  Your balmy nation is quite a domain

                                                  You crack a noggin now and again
                                                  (It's common to the best republics)
                                                  But bound to happen now and then
                                                  With no helmets on your subjects