The Ant Explorer [poem by C. J. Dennis]

[Editor: This poem by C. J. Dennis was published in A Book for Kids, 1921.]

The Ant Explorer

Once a little sugar ant made up his mind to roam —
To fare away far away, far away from home.
He had eaten all his breakfast, and he had his Ma’s consent
To see what he should chance to see; and here’s the way he went —
Up and down a fern frond, round and round a stone,
Down a gloomy gully where he loathed to be alone,
Up a mighty mountain range, seven inches high,
Through the fearful forest grass that nearly hid the sky,
Out along a bracken bridge, bending in the moss,
Till he reached a dreadful desert that was feet and feet across.
’Twas a dry, deserted desert, and a trackless land to tread,
He wished that he was home again and tucked-up tight in bed.
His little legs were wobbly, his strength was nearly spent,
And so he turned around again and here’s the way he went —
Back away from desert lands, feet and feet across,
Back along the bracken bridge bending in the moss,
Through the fearful forest grass, shutting out the sky,
Up a mighty mountain range seven inches high,
Down a gloomy gully, where he loathed to be alone,
Up and down a fern frond and round and round a stone.
A dreary ant, a weary ant, resolved no more to roam,
He staggered up the garden path and popped back home.