SPEKE

THE children play
at hide and seek
about the monument
to Speke.
And why should the dead
explorer mind
who has nothing to seek
and nothing to find?

QUEEN VICTORIA

Queen Victoria's
statue is
the work of her
daughter Beatrice.
The shape's all wrong
and the crown don't fit,
But -- bless her old heart! --
she was proud of it.

TAIL-PIECE

'Out! All out!'
Harsh echoes blow
from far. With wandering steps
and slow
once again their
garden leave
little Adam,
little Eve.