Jonah

By Esther Cameron

(may be grumbled to some kind of talking-blues tune)

Now Jonah writes from Nineveh that he’s having a good time.

There is quite a lot to see and do; the climate’s warm, but fine.

There were certain things he saw at first that kind of  freaked him out,

But you can’t go around down all the time; that’s not what life is all about.

Yes, when he got here, just out of the fish, he tried to spread the word,

He tried to tell the people how they were living was absurd.

He prophesied destruction, but he found nobody cared,

And he came to see their point of view, though sometimes at night he’s still kind of scared.

One day someone heard him preaching and said, “Come work for  me.

You have got something that we all need, it’s called In-teg-ri-ty.

But you’ve got to know how to sell it, or it won’t do any good.”

And Jonah thought it over, and he said he guessed he would.

From that time on he did all right, just living day by day.

He found you can be effective, if you just don’t try to have things your way;

And Jonah’s writing a book now, it soon will be on sale,

And everybody wants to read what it’s like being inside of a whale.

Now this story has no moral, so don’t even look for one.

In the end it really all depends on what you consider fun.

The wicked city it still stands, as I’m sure you’re all aware,

And if you want to go and live there, well I guess that’s your affair.