A new Gnu

GNU -

It’s been so very long since they wrote that wretched song
And they’ve left me feeling angry, feeling blue,
They were of course that duo people call Flanders and Swan –
And now everybody thinks I’m a Gnu –
But I’m an Elk, I’m not a Gnu, I’m not a Gnu and I’m not at all gamused
That everybody seems to take the irritating view- that I’m a Gnu!
Everybody knows a fish – if it swims it must be fish
Whether in a lake or in the sea -
Everybody knows a bird – if it flies it must be bird –
Unless it be a wasp or g-nat or bee
Any schoolboy ignoramus, knows the specie he should name us
But it seems that rule does not apply to me!
Cos when they look at me, it isn’t me they see, confusion will most certainly ensue
They just look and all agree
That what they think they see – well, it isn’t really me – It’s a Gnu!
But I’m not a Gnu, I’m not a Gnu, I’m not a Gnu if it’s all the same to you.
I suppose that, at a push, if you saw me in the bush,
You might think I have the smile of a leather skinned reptile
But it’s certainly not the smile of a Gnu!
At a festival of fools all the zoologic rules
May be overturned by some alternate view
So that - though an Elk I be – I’ve forsook my pedigree
And metamorphosed into a Gnu.
Zoo keepers, as a rule, learn their animals at school,
And should guard their nomenclature with their life
My keeper should proclaim my nature and my name
With the loudness of a common old fishwife
But he doesn’t, I regret and I’d like to take a bet
That even he is of the view – the much mistaken view – that – I- am – a - Gnu!