Christopher the Contrary Chameleon

Christopher the Contrary Chameleon
Young Christopher Chameleon
was very, very small;
A scant three inches, nose to tail,
and less than one inch tall.
Now all chameleon children
who do as they are told,
Must learn to match their background,
and are never, never bold.
But Christopher Chameleon
in a most contrary way,
Refused to change his colour
and just stayed pink all day.

“It makes me tired,” said Christopher,
“to change and change and change.
My head starts getting dizzy,
and my stomach feels quite strange.”
His parents scowled and scolded.
They said, “This will not do.
You’ve got to match your background,
no matter what the hue.”
But Christopher Chameleon
just yawned and said, “I think
I’ll take a nap on this green leaf,”
and stayed the same bright pink.
The rest of the chameleons
matched places where they lay.
But drowsing little Christopher
stood out as plain as day.
And so, a big crow sitting
on a nearby maple tree
Saw something bright upon a leaf
and swooped down close to see.
Christopher felt a shadow
blocking out the sun
And opened one bright eye and knew
the time had come to run!
Beneath the leaf he darted,
as fast as he could go,
And then he clung there hoping
that he had lost the crow.
“I’m sure I spotted something,”
croaked the, crow from quite nearby.
“It looked like a pink lizard
from up there in the sky.”
“That crow saw me,” thought Christopher,
“from way up in the air.
He did not see the others,
but he knew that I was there.”’
The crow flapped off, and Christopher
peeked out, and when he’d seen
That it was safe, climbed on his leaf
and quickly turned quite green.

Harriette H. Miller
(From Speak Out 5-6, 1996)