Here, as promised, is a much ‘happier’ poem than last week’s ‘The D-Word’. This one is called ‘Old Mac Donald’ and I wrote it a few weeks ago. It is about that infamous farmer, Old Mac Donald, and his lovable animals that used to sing E-I-E-I-O. But what happens after the music stops? Read on to discover the truth! I’ve filmed myself reading it out too, it’s on YouTube and the link is here!

Old Mac Donald by Liam Overend

Old Mac Donald had a farm

Where animals vocalised with charm

They were all happy and allowed to grow

Singing E-I-E-I-E-I-O

But oh, how we were so naive

Mac Donald led us to believe

That the animals lived in sheer delight

The truth will keep you up at night

Because Old Mac Donald had a working farm

And the animals, they all came to harm

All of them slaughtered for their meat

So we could have nice things to eat

Pork chops, joints and legs of lamb

Streaky bacon and sides of ham

Chicken wings and shredded duck

Sausages too with any luck

Burgers for the barbeque

A bit of veal for cordon bleu

Want some eggs? Have a dozen

They’ve all mated with their cousins

Minced beef, tongue and potted paste

Mac Donald let nothing go to waste

He ground up snouts, tails and feet

And turned them into jellied meat

There was some scandal too, of course

When he tried to fob us off with horse

He held the wool over our eyes

As well as meat, he fed us lies!

We all believed his happy tale

Set on the farm out in the dale

With cows and sheep and pigs and ducks

The neighing horse and the chicken’s cluck

We should have seen through his song and dance

And given it more than a flirting glance

Though it’s not like he’s done a terrible thing

He had to do something for a living

In the end, he was just doing his job

We believed the songs spewing from his gob

But how were we fooled by his rhyming show?

Ee, I, Ee, I, I dunno

Thank you for reading. While you’re here, why don’t you check out some of my other poems and ramblings?

You can find me on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter too by following the links at the top of the blog post.

Liam