A Tail of Two Halves Copyright © 2009 John Snell

A diner in a New York restaurant
Was unhappy, it has to be said
When he found mixed up with his broccoli,
What looked like an angry snake’s head

The diner called over the waiter
And asked “How could this be?”
Taking a photo with his mobile phone
So the whole world could see

The head was the size of a thumb
And was a lighter shade of grey
It also had part of its spine attached
And looked in quite a poor way

Officials were unable to take details
Of how it ended up in a meal
Until the rest of it could be found
So they put out a world wide appeal

This resulted in many phone calls
Mostly, as expected, from cranks
Who said they saw the other half of the snake
Trying to withdraw money from banks

As at today, the other part of the snake
Unfortunately, has still not been found
Local police, who were called in to help with the search,
Believe it’s got lost, or gone to ground

There are rumours in the city
The snake was on the restaurant’s staff
And midst a disagreement with the head chef
He took a knife and cut it in half

Another story that’s going round is
It was put there against its will
To keep an eye on the customer
And make sure he paid his bill!

There is also another rumour
That’s quite possible, and media led
It’s got a job down on Wall Street
Amongst all the others without a head