The Gruff

poem by: T. Moose
Written on Apr 12, 2015

The Gruff is tuff.
He's got the stuff.
The Gruff is tuff and ruff and buff.

The Gruff is mad.
The Gruff is bad.
The Gruff's a lad who's not so glad.

And when we walk the halls at school,
We all see that the Gruff is cool.
The Gruff he walks, and wallops, and whomps.
and kicks, and clicks, and clomps and stomps.

And when he waits in line at lunch...
wait, he does NOT!
The Gruff, he does not wait in line.
He goes to the front when he wants to dine.
The Gruff dines fine at front of line.

And when the Gruff goes out to play,
Everyone stays out of Gruff's way.
Because...
The Gruff is tuff, he's got the stuff.
The Gruff has no fluff, I do not bluff.
No muff, or duff, or guff, or puff.
There is nothing soft about the Gruff.
The Gruff is tuff and ruff and buff.

He shoves and pushes when we play,
and sprays the way with muddy clay.
And splooshes everyone in sight,
To splash small whoompsies, dressed in white.

And when the Gruff is digit-dingling,
on his doogit doggit dingler.
He even finds a way to bite,
With mean words of stick and spite,
He digit-dingles words that hurt,
Words that make us feel like dirt.
And when he's done he shares his gloop.
His mean and digit-dingled goop.

So even when we're in our beds,
That Gruff is sticking in our heads.
And when we dance the Deedle-do
With Mom and Dad and sister too.
And even when we're out to play,
Out on a sleigh, or at café.
Yes, even when we eat soufflé,
That Gruff is trying to wreck my day.

Ohh. That Gruff.
I've had enough of that Gruff.
Enough is enough, Mr. Gruff.

You've made us scared,
You've made us shiver,
And shake and quake ( and sometimes ache )
You've made us quiver.

Oh Mr. Gruff it's time to pay.
It's time for you to go away.
I'll tell teacher, I'll tell my Dad,
I'll teetle tattle 'til you've been had.

Mr. Gruff you've made us sad.
So sad and mad and not so glad.
So now's the time you pay your dues,
There's no excuse for your abuse.

Yes, I will be the one to stand.
The one who'll represent this land,
Of little whoompsy happy crews,
Of dancing kids that Deedle-do.

Victory is mine!!!

Off to the office with Mr. Gruff.
Now you don't look so very tuff.
Yes, Mr Gruff, you aren't so tuff,
or ruff or buff, you're full of fluff. ( and that's no bluff )

When Gruffy's Mom and Dad will hear,
they'll scream off Gruffy's wrinkly ear.
We'll wait and watch and smile and grin,
For Gruffy's trouble to begin.

We'll wait, and wait, and wait,
and wait, and wait, and wait.
But wait.

There is no Dad, no Sis, no Mom.
There is no Unck or Aunt to come.
Mr. Gruff is all alone.
After school there's no one home.

When Mr. Gruff gets back from school,
There's no one there to call him cool.
No one to dance the Deedle-do.
No cheese soufflés or sleigh rides too.

And when we looked through teacher's door
We saw him peering at the floor.
We saw a site we've never seen,
Upon his beady eyes of green.
We saw that Mr. Gruff was sad
We saw him shed a tear, that lad.
Mr. Gruff, he was not mad,
We saw that Mr. Gruff was sad.
He was not mad, he was just sad,
That he had no Mom, no Sis, no Dad.

They sent Gruff home with hat in hand.
And for a couple days was banned,
from coming to the school to play
to laugh and jump, and dance away.
( Not that he did that anyway )

And when the Gruff came back to school,
He came back quiet and not so cool.
And when the Gruff went out to play,
He found a brush to hide away.

For days and days, that Gruff did hide.
For days and days, he hid his pride.
For ticks and tocks, the Gruff was there,
But we didn't see him anywhere.

And then one day when the school clock dangled.
And out we went to mish and mangle,
And look at Billy's newest dingler.
The doogit doggit daggit dingler!

And as we digit-dlngled words,
And watched the clouds, and trees and birds.
We started dancing Deedle-do,
In the way that we were taught to do.

And as we skipped around the pole
firmly planted in the knoll, 
A tiny whoompsie said with glee,
"The Gruff is out for all to see!"

And so he was, the Gruff was there.
Standing square with eyes afflair.
We all stopped, in udder shock
The only sound was clock-tick and clock-tock.

And the Gruff cleared his throat.

"Do you think you could teach me to dance Deedle-do?"
"Could you teach me the way that they taught you to do?"
"I haven't a Mom or a Sis or a Dad"
"To teach me to deedle my feet, like you had."

We all gathered round Gruffy to show him our tricks.
The deedlingest deedling that did ever exist.
The Gruff deedled up, left, right, west, and down
He deedled until he was the best deedler in town.

Bill gave him a flower, it's name no one knows,
( Matters not what we call that delight to the nose )
Bill gave him that stem, with no real name.
A ruby-red flower, so that Gruff was the same.

And you know what happened, you'll never believe.
The Gruff pulled out a batch of sweets from his sleeve.
And not just the plain sweets you get at the store,
No the Gruff shared his grape-loolipolastic flomoor!

The Gruff is still tuff.
He's still got the stuff.
The Gruff is still buff and even still a bit ruff.

But now that the Gruff can dance Deedle-do.
The Gruff is not mad, because he's like me and you.
The Gruff is not bad, and the Gruff is now glad.
The Gruff's just a lad who stopped being sad.

 

Tags: happy, sad, humor, inspirational, hope,

Add Comment


mr. chap commented:
Kinda reminds me of Dr. Suess. I think this is GREAT for kids. Good story telling. You tell a very sweet story. I think we ALL know what this deserves. 10/10
Frank Hornby . commented:
I want to learn to dance the "Deedle-do!.........lovely, clever choice of crazy words...something John Lennon would do.........a poem with a moral in there somewhere.....loved it....absolutely Discumnockerating!......
Eli Stovall commented:
Dr. Suess couldn't have written it better. Both funny and meaningful. A beautiful poem.

 

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