The Jumblies Sail Again (with apologies to Edward Lear)—Jennifer Trafton

Part of the forthcoming anthology “I’ve Got a Bad Case of Poetry.” Support the Kickstarter to help bring the book into the world.

by Jennifer Trafton

They went to sea in a sieve, they said,
In a sieve they went to sea!
And so we all gullibly gobbled a feast
(Of dumplings made of delectable yeast)
As they spun us a story or three.
And the people all marveled, “How dry they are!”
How wise and undrowned with their crockery-jar
And their faraway cheeses and clever seacraft!”
I sniffed, “This is nonsense.” I scoffed, “This is daft.”
But nobody listens to me.

“Let’s ALL go to sea in a sieve,” they said,
“To frolic and float and explore!”
So they showed us how, with a ruler and pencil,
They’d reached (in their seaworthy kitchen utensil)
The great Gromboolian shore.
“The sieve is too rusty, the sail blown to shreds!”
I protested in vain, “Have you lost your green heads?”
But the Jumblies chuckled. “If sieves are few,
In a pickle or pinch, a sponge will do.
We’ll surf to the Chankly Bore!”

Wooshes and woes, wooshes and woes
Are the sounds when the Jumblies plunge.
Our lips are blue and our toes are froze,
For we surfed the sea on a sponge.

We set out to sea on a sponge, we did,
Piled high with ten pies and a spoon.
And the whitecaps wept as we crested the swells
And the breakers tolled like briny bells
A fathomless, foamy tune.
Then the Dorkling Hens and the Scroobious Snail,
The Pobbles and Wangles and Querulous Quail
All cried, “Let us come!” “You’re too heavy,” I roared.
But the Jumblies waved, and they clambered aboard
And danced to the light of the moon.
Alas!
They danced to the light of the moon!

Wooshes and woes, wooshes and woes
Are the sounds when the Jumblies plunge.
Our lips are blue and our toes are froze,
For we surfed the sea on a sponge.

The roiling billows boiled and broke
On our frothy frivolity,
And the longer we danced, the deeper we sank
As the thirsty sponge spun round and drank
The musical, mirthless sea.
And instead of the hills of the Chankly Bore
We found ourselves swooshed to the ocean floor
Till we scattered the fish with a grand kersplat
And the Jumblies sighed, “Well, that is that.”
And the Dorkling Hens and the Scroobious Snail,
The Pobbles and Wangles and Querulous Quail
Proclaimed to a passing muskellunge,
“Don’t ever entrust your life to a sponge!”
Then I smiled at each pea-green, seasick loon
And fed them the pies with a runcible spoon
And patiently heard their songs of woe
And sweetly said, “I told you so,
But nobody listens to me.”

Dark and deep, dark and deep
Is the land where the Jumblies now live.
But if you can find where they wallow and weep,
They will trade you a sponge for a sieve.

---

Jennifer Trafton is a storyteller and artist with a passion for exploring the intersections of faith, creativity, and the arts. After serving as managing editor of Christian History & Biography magazine and a curriculum writer and editor for the StoneWorks Global Arts Initiative, she has been a regular conference speaker, writer, teacher, editor, and illustrator for the Rabbit Room creative community for over a decade. Her first two novels for children, The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic and Henry and the Chalk Dragon, received starred reviews. She recently illustrated Glad and Golden Hours: A Companion for Advent and Christmastide by Lanier Ivester (Rabbit Room Press, 2024) and is the author of an upcoming book about the artist-missionary Lilias Trotter (B&H Publishing, 2025).

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