The Who You Barely Knew

I am that very Who
Of whom you barely knew.
Sure, you’ve heard of the elephant
Who against all odds and elements,

Protected like heck this little speck.
My entire world he kept in check.
Yet while he forged this horrid trek,
I hid in a corner, a miserable wreck.

All ‘round my town is hustle and bustle,
Fussing over the muscles of Russell-
The strongman whose great larynx
Can bellow a sound heard by a sphynx.

A sphynx way out in the Desert of Jurl,
Which to my town sits flipside on our world.
With brassy horns Russell was adored
At the ceremony of Bellow Fellow Awards.

While alone with familiar doubts and fears,
I hid in my shadows and covered my ears,
So I missed the town crier next day,
With incredibly urgent shouts of doomsday,

“Straight from the mayor, one hundred percent,
 We need all to shout, ‘We are here, Elephant!”
Then one not-so quiet, cloudy morning,
The mayor stormed in without warning,

With spouting and shouting like crazy:
“Horton needs help!  Don’t be lazy!
All Whos must be heard, there’s no choice!
The fate of our world depends on your voice.”

I glanced out the window and shed a tear;
The familiar wood fence had always been there;
Long ago through that fence went my parents,
Off in two hearses, left me an inheritance.

They believed in me right to the end
For my voice to be raised instead of my pen.
See, I tend to do better to sit down and write,
Though I mutter and stutter; my voice has no might.

I’d never walked past that old wooden fence,
And I felt my small voice made no difference.
Just then, through the town meandered
A small cell off the elephant’s dander.

And just out my window landed on the ground.
The elephant cell made a very small sound.
I scurried outside and leaned in closer.
“Hear th-th-that, Mister Mayor?”

“No sir.”

My sensitive hearing made me crane my neck
To the sound of a speck of a speck of a speck.
“Hello, I’m a cell.  What’s your name?”

“Hell-l-lo!  I am J-j-james.”

“Hello, J-j-james.  Nice to meet you for sure.
Though I scream, none but you hear my words.
I am part of the great elephant who is very
Brave in the face of a crowd fierce and scary.

He’s climbed tall mountains and cliffs,
Then scoured through wide fields adrift.
In spite of this, he insists you exist.
Though all come against, he persists.”

Then, I thought, if this small cell
Could travel and tell so, so well,
In spite of its invisible size,
Then maybe, just maybe I’d -

Walk past the fence, perhaps beside Russell,
And then bolster up my one vocal muscle.
The elephant cell’s name was Jeff.
“J-j-jeff, I’ll give my b-b-breath,
And th-th-thanks for the upl-l-lift.”

“Sure. Could I have a lift?”
And so, with my friend on my shoulder,
I ventured out and found myself bolder.

Hoping I would not drop and flop,
I raised my small voice, let it all out,
And so pushed our chorus over the top.
Then yonder world heard our shout.

I made a small mark in small world history,
Though time turns identity to mystery.
So please make the choice to ever be noice;
A person’s a person, though some small of voice.