There comes a time in every father?s life when he has to answer difficult questions from his children. This poem was written for my daughter in order to answer one such question.

The Facts of Life 

The Maldivian Culture is ancient, and many a story is told

of  Demons, Sea-Serpents and Monsters and Gods whom they worshipped of old.

One story I heard on my travels, the one I'm about to relate.

tells of Man and his humble beginnings. You may think you know it...but wait.

It seems that when God was creating, in the Biblical context I mean

He made first the North then the South Poles... then just filled in the bits in-between.

By Saturday Evening He'd finished. Just one thing would complete his plan.

He took all the bits He'd left over and created His masterpiece....MAN.

The bits were soon stuck together and no really big problem arose.

It looked as if  He'd have all Sunday to rest or to fish or just doze.

He stood back and looked at his product. "A DAMned good job!" He did say.

But MAN only heard the first two words. So ADAM  he's called to this day.

Now God was quite pleased with his efforts. Though MAN was a bit of a laugh

But because he was made at the weekend He'd get paid at least time and a half.

He set off to leave our Ancestor just sitting and looking about

but He hadn't gone far, perhaps half a mile, when He heard Adam give a loud shout.

It seems that as Adam was rising, he couldn't just stay sitting there,

he happened to spy, with his brand new eye, a spare piece of hair lying there.

Now he knew that the hair wasn't surplus. He'd got bits stuck on here and there,

and the fact that this bit wasn't stuck on to him really didn't seem fair

But God didn't want to go back then, unless something really serious arose.

So He shouted to Adam, quite kindly, "You can stick that bit right up your nose"

Harry Mitchell

And the question was: Dad, why do you have hair growing out of your nostrils?