(Mammal with hooves)
Hooves are not, strictly speaking, feet,
But rather toenails.
This is why
Ungulates are elegant
They don't walk
They glide along on tippy-toe.
This is how the cow
Jumped over the moon -
Balletically.
June the 29th 1867
Was a bad day for ungulates
(And other native Americans)
Buffalo Bill Cody
To feed the workers
Of the Kansas Pacific Railway
Shot 2,525 American bison.
Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria,
Having recently been beaten up
By Bismark and having recently
Heard of the death of his brother
(The former emperor of Mexico)
By firing squad
And having recently been told of
The bad habits of his son Rudolf
(The future suicide)
Went out from his hunting lodge
In Bad Ischl
And shot 1,597 ungulates
Of various sorts and sizes.
Then he brought back the horns -
Even the tiny ones -
And hung them on the walls
Where they can still be seen…
William Cody and Franz Josef
Are still very popular
In some circles
Of this planet.
