Flash, The Fast Sloth

Yes, lots of birds live high in trees.

With super-speed, they ride the breeze. 

Some furry creatures dash quite well:

Cheetah, ferret, sleek gazelle.

Some delight us with their ways,

Like how a monkey swings and plays,

Flinging quickly up in trees,

The branches being their trapeze.

Some creatures aren’t zippy, though.

Some merely sit or barely go.

They’re simply cut from different cloth.

One such slowpoke is...the sloth. 

Yes, that’s our star who’ll make his splash:

A three-toed sloth who’s name is Flash.

Since sloths are known to be quite slow,

He’s diff’rent from all sloths you know.

Flash is not pokey, calm or hushed.

He is not sluggish nor unrushed.

No. Flash can speed and Flash can dash.

He’s quick, quick, quick – our sloth named Flash!

With headband, shorts and trainers on,

The days for training are now gone.

He stretches, bends and jogs in place, 

Determination on his face.

He always wins, so fast in fact 

They make him start way in the back.

Though it’s against the sloth’s design,

He’ll beat them to that finish line.

But wait! Before our race today

Let’s ponder how Flash got this way.

Practice, practice – that’s one part.

He lifts his weights. He pulls a cart

With heavy loads of bricks and blocks.

His muscled legs are hard as rocks

(Though under fur it’s hard to tell).

His stride is long, his feet grip well.

His body’s lean, he’s taut, he’s trim.

His lanky limbs, well-formed and slim.

He gets a very good night’s sleep.

He’s rested well, both long and deep. 

So here we are, back at our race,

A grin on Flash’s hairy face.

He waves to all his watching fans

Who cheer and whoop and clap their hands.

Bum in the air, he takes his pose.

All racers ready, poised on toes.

They wait to hear the starting gun...

BANG! They’re off! The run’s begun!

And as we thought, Flash pulls ahead.

Not in a blur quite like we’d said.

He’s hardly like a cheetah, true, 

But still he’s faster than this crew

Of creatures who now trail behind.

There is a fact that slipped my mind.

One small detail left from our tale:

Flash only races...Slug and Snail.

The End