Why did the chicken cross the road?

That's one small step
for a Rhode Island Red
one giant leap
for poultry.

Uptown downtown running all around town

rush hour crush hour push and shove hour

sardines in a can traffic's in a jam

sweating getting ahead of the pack

no use being at the back of the track

hurry worry hustle bustle fuss'll get you nowhere

so don't even go there

feeling down at heel really down in the mouth

all your hopes wishes too

washed away they've all gone south

riptide tearing you apart at the seams

immersed in self-pity reservoir of self-esteem

at its melting point hurting your hopes

drowning your dreams

cross-current carried you far out of reach

wrecked on the rocks washed up on the beach

rain falls ******* some more than others

you've had more than your fair share

heed a storm warning find a safe haven

afloat on calm waters in a heart that cares
seems to me you need to be
swimming in a sea of tranquility

no need to stay adrift awash in a rivulet

of insoluble doubt
navigate your way to a new tributary

find shelter in a safe harbour

and like runoff ride it out

it's history [aft] it's long gone

water under the bridge

like the wake left behind 
it's astern move on

neither there nor here

it's water over the weir

Once upon a time on the sands
she thought she found true love
then one day he went his way
what was she dreaming of

now she walks the shoreline alone
along the low water mark
searching for seashells on her own
from sunrise until dark

at the end of the tunnel
there's always a light
a ray of hope
in the darkest night
every black cloud
has a silver lining
it's in there somewhere
bright and shining

one day at the beach she met a man
later they were lovers
strange to say he moved away
left her for another

now she strolls the shoreline alone
all along the high tide mark
searching for seashells on her own
from sunup until dark

when love leaves home
what's there to do
surrender to sadness
and sing the blues
when love leaves home
what's to be done
live with the madness
'til the pain is gone

Do you have a poetic licence
to park your poor purple prose
(alliteratively he wrote)
it even puts my feet to sleep
and gives me coma toes
(literally did he quote)

and have you paid your syn tax
to persist in pitiful poetry
(a non sequitur perhaps)
as dabbling in scribbling
is how it 'ppears to me
(no storied scripts mere scraps)

before the pen you pick up
or possibly parchment and quill
(pheasant not porcupine)
please procrastinate perchance to ponder
prior to putting out pig in a poke swill
(pearls of wisdom before swine)

Like the leopard
which not a spot can change
or zebra their stripes a-one
a mother's love
for her tiger cub
in winter snow
or summer sun
may never be undone

Native Americans
call me 'Paleface'
'Roundeye'
say the Chinese race

to a Scot
I'm a 'Sassenach'
'Boyo' to those in Wales
altho' a 'Limey' in New York
I answer to none such hails

once a 'Gweilo'
in Hong Kong
Down Under
was a 'Pom'

you may give a dog a bad name
(and/or a bone)
he may even be your (best) 'Pal'
don't think me fuddy-duddy
for what's more I have my limits
and I'm not your (good) 'Buddy'

then a 'Rooinek'
'round Cape Town
'Farangi' was I
in Dubai

and tho' no English rose
was once a 'Bloke' when there
originally from Blighty
in some parts of the U.S.A.
I am now called 'Whitey'

'Haole'
in Hawaii that's me
and '******'
in Mexico

seems I'm all things to all men
altho' they know me not
whether saint or sinner
you may call me what you will
but just not late for dinner

They are now but cash cows
(a trough in which to quaff)
for the many attendees
who sit on long-winded
Government-funded
investigation committees

no one around to hear the sound
(of whispers in the woods)
while their coffers swelled
for all the papers printed
on the ecology
several trees were felled

the fracking drilling boring too
(found underground)
wastes water in copious quantities
releases greenhouse gas
and undermines the earth
in the final analyses

deliberate discussion and debate
('til the cows come home)
to which they are compelled
only exacerbates the issue
of global warming
with their hot air expelled