Ethan and the Elephant
Painting by Steve Kent
Words by Chad Repko
Ethan and the Elephant
Once when I was young,
I took a walk in the woods behind my home
I walked past the changing earth
I walked past the things that I have known
I walked further that I ever have before
and found myself in a lonely place
Scared, I saw things I've never seen
And a creature with a smile on it's face
It's innocence glowed from head to toe
not hurt by man's law
It had to be a heavenly creature
This grey image that I saw
This creature was unbound by earthly chains
And had a heart that was huge and free
As if this was a wild dream
The creature finally spoke to me
It spoke of ancient things
Spirtual existance of kings and queens
About the believers and broken dreams
It spoke of many many things
It asked me if I could be it's friend
because it was lonely in this life
The world has forgotten it's beauty
and everywhere there was sadness and strife
I told the creature that I was lonely as well
The older world never wanted to play
Then we ran around in wild imagination
and smiled the entire day
We pretended to be superheros
and then we ate and drank
I pretended to be a plane
and it pretended to be a tank
As the lively sun began to fall
The creature hugged me tight
And as the moon climbed the sky
The creature said that was it for tonight
"You have to get back to your mother and father"
"And you must love all creatures and things"
I asked if we can meet again the next day
and it said let's see what tomorrow brings
I had to ask the creature, "what is your name?"
before our wonderful day would end
It said, "My name is Ethan-
and I am your new imaginary friend."