It: In Honor of Dr. Seuss

There was an old laddie who went for a swim
With a winsome young lass who had beckoned him in
“Beckoned?”, you say, why now whose fault is that
The man, the young woman, or the sickly old cat.

Well not “old,” no not really, in old old cat years
But not youthful, or dancing, you bring me to tears.
Now look what you’ve done, gone and lured me again
from the lad, and the beckon, and the where, what, and when.

Oh yes, I remember, we’re talking ’bout “It”
Not the moon, nor the planets, nor the earth where “it” sits.

It’s the “It” that we’re seeking
that funny old noun
not a he or a she
or a pinch or a pound.
Not a boy or a girl
or a smooch or a twirl.

It’s a thing that we’re calling
It’s the itness of “It”
It’s surprising and scary
and givin’ us fits.

It’s delightful, refreshing
It’s charming and gay
Its blessed and soulful
Not gay in that way!
It’s revealing, concealing
It’s funny, it’s sad
It’s the king of all Itness
It’s good and it’s bad.

It’s so good I can tell you
it won’t go away
It’s so bad I can tell you
We’d better not say.

It gambols and gambles
It rambles and roams
It calls us
And mauls us
And shivers
and moans.

Now you’ve got me all dopey
Which doesn’t take much
It’s a song, it’s a prayer
Its a bowl full of mush,
It’s plain and it’s simple
It’s groovy. It’s kind
It’s warm
and it’s nourishing
a thing of the mind.

And the heart and the soul
and the sinew and such
it’s the wish and the promise
the balls and the touch.

Oh, you’ve got it, I take it
this essence of It
the long and the short
and the weak and the fit.
The glory
the gory
the thrill of the ride
the soulful
the doleful
the queen and her pride.

The cats
and the Rats
The considered and ill
the loyal
the foible
the charge and the kill.

Now we’re talkin ’bout It
yes the queen and the king
it’s the aria, the doo wop, the jazz that they sing
it’s the celtic, the redwood,
the worm and the crow,
the whale and tiger
all sing as they go.

They’re searching and lurching
earth spins without stop
and the It keeps on dancing
on the bottom and the top.

Now it’s true you can’t “get” “It”
But it’s easy to “know”
It’s the found, and the promise,
the go and the grow.

It’s the coming and going
The sail on the ship
It’s the me and the you
the old re lation ship

There, I said It
I named it
I called the shot true
In the giving and receiving
In the me and the you
In the pardon
the blessing
the do and the don’t
In the hope and the fear
in the will and the wont.

It’s the “It”
great lord willing
the tall and the small
the snail
and the wail
it is nothing
It’s all.