Pastor Fritz Fritschel composed this poem especially for the Benefit Concert by the children of LCH on Saturday, March 4, 2006, to raise money to purchase an Ark of Animals from Heifer International that would help children and families throughout the World

Musically on the Bounty

Listen to Fritz read this poem

What an incredibly, colossal chore
To gather all those pairs of critters,
Gangly giraffes, pulchritudinous peacocks, a boar,
Fuzzy felines, clever canines and all their litters,
All bundled and trundled into tight quarters
For the maiden voyage of an untested ark.
There's Noah, looking for strong-armed porters
Who can load food and fodder for this floating animal park,
Which, according to a well-placed source,
Is scheduled for a forty-day cruise,
That is, if you only consider the rainy season, of course,
The extension beyond which may be unwelcome news
To the seafaring captain and his crew.
So what is he to do,
He and his family few?
Well, what would you?
How will they get through?

Imagine the confusion, the cacophony, the squawk,
Of scores of beasts bellowing, birds beeping, horses neighing,
And Noah, knowing nothing of how animals talk,
Pigs grunting, no one knows what they are saying.
Then suddenly—you know who,
Has an idea out of the blue!
Although who are we to say
Where ideas come from on a rainy day?
Not from the past, for this thought is new.
Not from the present, for it cannot be caught.
Perhaps the future should be given its due,
Where such storms of the brain come to be taught.

And stormy it was by now.
Blue sky, now black like a quilted cloud,
Hangs over the boat, animals screeching out loud.
“Look,” Noah remarks, “see the frightened, fuzzy, furry hare.
Cowering in the corner, cuddly pair,
We’ll pacify them with our own musical flair.
You can hear now the elephant’s trumpeting fanfare
And the jazzy improvisation of the thrush.
It’s enough to bring the bashful to blush.”
Noah’s family got the idea and began arranging species into sections,
Making sure that they were willing to follow directions
Of the maestro, who now, with olive branch in hand
Begins to lead this animal band
In music never heard before on this land,
But, for this once, harmony is in command.
“See, we can dream of a peaceable realm,
With justice and generosity at the helm.
We can sing that we sail a tuneful bark
And when we alight from our melodious ark,
We can repeat this heifer homily
To care for our earthly, orchestral family.”

Fritz Fritschel
March 4, 2006