Du Wacky Du

Thorin N. Tatge

To “Tit-Willow” from The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan

One day in the desert a silly bird sat,

Singing, “Du Wacky Du Wacky Du!”

There wasn't much more to his message than that:

Just Du Wacky Du Wacky Du!

I wondered if there were some pertinent fact

To justify this inexplicable act

Of ravaging his own syringeal tract

With Du Wacky Du Wacky Du!

I asked him the point of his overblown greeting--

This Du Wacky Du Wacky Du!

And why he preferred to just sit there repeating:

Du Wacky Du Wacky Du!

And why, with a voice both melodic and tractile

With intricacies that could rival a fractal,

He chose to just mimic some sick pterodactyl

With Du Wacky Du Wacky Du!

He glared at my questions, apparently pained,

Saying, “Du Wacky Du Wacky Du!”

That Du Wacky Du Wacky Du!

Then, fanning his tail with a shake of his wattle,

His feathers resplendent like old Quetzalcoatl,

He tilted his head back and opened the throttle:

Oh, Du Wacky Du Wacky Du!

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