A Tiger on the Thames

Imagine if the animals of London zoo had escaped during the olympics of 2012...
Imagina que durante las olimpiadas de Londres 2012 los animales del zoo se escapan...

1  An explosion rocked old London zoo A cloud of gas rose high The animals thought they’d grab the chance While their keepers watched the sky	2  The tiger escaped his horrid cage The llamas legged it too The monkeys promptly scarpered Trampling over a gnu
3  The gazelles then fled, the zebras sped The crocs cornered a giraffe They had a chew, the frogs turned blue  And now please try not to laugh	4  Some otters got upon the Tube A cheetah strolled to Tower Bridge A rhino somehow climbed Big Ben Some chameleons found a fridge
5  The lemurs rode the London Eye A hippo rode a bus Passengers on the number 12 Boy they really caused a fuss!	6  Piccadilly teemed with tourists Portobello too was pretty packed But all the people scattered When the tourist sites were sacked
7  Shoppers along Oxford Street With purchases galore Ran away in horror As a buffalo broke the law	8  Penguins paraded around St Paul’s The owls popped/pooped(!) in a pub The lioness in Westminster Mislaid her new-born cub
9  Trafalgar Square was emptied Of all its normal passers-by When lions licked poor Nelson Sitting lonely up on high	10 Back over in the city Some elephantine herds Stormed the Bank of England The Stock Exchange was filled with birds
11 A Gorilla in the Gherkin Made such a fearful sight That businessmen and women Ran panic-struck in fright	12 An orangutan and a turtle Piled themselves into a cab Flamingos flapped outside the BBC And the meerkats looked just fab.
13 Downing Street and Whitehall Flew into a pretty panic The singers at the opera house Performed their pieces, but were manic	14 MPs sat up in parliament Laws were passed to stem the riot The army stormed the parks and squares But failed to keep the quiet
15 Gnus, gazelles and wildebeest Made their way to Marble Arch Cabs and buses at a standstill The Savannah on the march!	16 The siege of Harrods ended Police arrested looting parrots They had pooped upon the caviar But were lured away with carrots
17 Hamleys was a haven, though For beasties, birds and bugs The riot police were no match at all For such enterprising thugs	18 The Horse Guards cantered to Hyde Park To avoid all the palaver They showered in the Serpentine And soaped themselves into a lather
19The Queen enthroned in Buckingham Heard of all of the kerfuffle She phoned up Fortnum Mason’s And drowned her sorrows with a truffle	20 Museums filled with monkeys Pandas pranced along the Strand A kangaroo said how d’ya do? To an Aussie’s extended hand
21 The tiger took a tugboat And sailed on down the Thames He passed the Tower of London With all its hidden gems	22 An aardvark, seal and emu Were stranded at low tide As their tugboat rounded Lambeth Bridge But took the bend too wide
23 A bison and an ostrich Were feeling pretty hunky-dory They grazed along the Southbank But in Putney things turned gory	24 Visiting foreign dignitaries At a football match in Chelsea Were swooped upon by vampire bats Who chased them south to Selsey
25 A jaguar chose Wimbledon To hunt and stalk his prey A python rounded Centre Court Yet lived to tell the day	26 Primrose Hill was occupied By hysterical hyenas They decided on a joy-ride In two abandoned Ford Cortinas
27 The Olympic Games were hijacked And well and truly stuffed The animals wanted their revenge A Puma prowled the stadium looking chuffed	28 The cockatoos chose trees in Clapham Fulham’s sewers filled with snakes It was actually a sight to see A camel trekking calmly to Mortlake
29 A ravenous black panther Sniffed out Smithfields in a trice He bypassed Soho’s scrummy fare I mean a panther eating  rice?	30 A clumsy Komodo dragon Thought he caught a whiffy reek But he bumped into a toucan Who poked him sharply with his beak
31 From Knightsbridge through to Camden The animals went wild The carnival in Notting Hill Was trashed with bits of child	32 Greenwich got away unscathed As did Battersea and Kew (Thank goodness all that leafy stuff Was saved for me and you)
33 The fallow deer in Richmond Had to run to save their hoofs As a dingo abandoned the rubbish bins To hunt them down with Aussie/whiny? woofs	34 Marauding throughout London From all over Regent’s Park The animals of London zoo Rampaged relentlessly till dark
35 Back in London zoo’s aquarium The residents here seemed stuck for life But a vacant vessel from the boating lake Relieved them of their strife	36 The tiger wanted nowt to do With all this beastly chaos He sailed onwards to the ocean And all the way to … Lagos

Author: Lisa Howe