I hope you have some cherished memories of your mom and the things she taught you. One of my mother's legacies is a love of words, books, and reading. She read to us, sang silly songs, and quoted poetry when her hands were busy with housework.

I've searched the internet but have not been able to find one of my favorite poems she told me over and over. It's about a monkey who taunts a hippo--"Oh, hippo, my boy, don't you wish you were me?"--for his inability to swing in the trees by his tail. The hippo dreams that he tries to engage in this behavior, with predictably disastrous results. "The splash could be heard ten miles and one half. It wiped out a village and drowned a giraffe. Flamingoes and fishes were strewn far and wide, and trees were laid flat by the force of the tide."

At the end the hippo realizes he has his own identity, separate from the monkey's. His parting words, "I'll stay on the ground, and I'll like it by heck!"

If anyone knows the name of this charming poem, or where to find the complete text, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks!

Happy Mother's Day to all moms, and especially to mine.

Carlene Havel,
Author of "A Hero's Homecoming" co-author “Daughter of the King”
http://goo.gl/s6EQS