Rhinocerous Beetle

Well hello beetle, look at you!
Come here to do your shopping too?
But don’t you know a Shopping Mall
is not the place for you at all?

Now there you stand, so huge and black,
(with great horned head and shiny back!)
while Christmas shoppers scurry past
to finish shopping lists at last.

The looks you get as they go by
would make a lesser beetle fly!
But no, not you, you stand your ground,
to make them circle, go around.

They say that you’re an ugly beast,
(they’d like to see you gone, at least!)
but to my eyes you look just right:
so fine and strong and black as night.

I haven’t any place to be –
why don’t I keep you company?
I’ll simply sit down here by you -
protect you from a crushing shoe.

The people in this milling throng
all think you’re dreadful. Though they’re wrong,
it’s best, fine beastie, all a-sway,
that you should rest, then fly away.

Fly fast to earth that’s cool and damp,
to where the moon's your only lamp,
for when these Christmas lights are gone,
your moon, my friend, will still shine on.