George Washington’s Birthday: Wondering

I wonder what I would have said
if my dad asked me,
"Son, do you know who cut down
my pretty cherry tree?"
I think I might have closed my eyes
and thought a little bit
about the herds of elephants
I'd seen attacking it.
I would have heard the rat-a-tat
of woodpeckers, at least,
or the raging roar of a charging boar
or some such other beast!
Perhaps a hippopotamus
with nothing else to do
had wandered through our garden
and stopped to take a chew.
We all know George said,
"Father, I cannot tell a lie."
Yet I can't help but wonder ...
Did he really try?

Copyright Credit: Bobbi Katz, “George Washington's Birthday.” Copyright © 1992 by Bobbi Katz. Reprinted with the permission of the author, www.bobbikatz.com.
Source: Ring Out Wild Bells (Harcourt Inc., 1992)