Twano's Rocket Ship - Chapter 1

In deepest dark Africa, somewhere in the center
In a tiny village there lived an inventor
His name was Twano and was awfully clever
The village knew no-one like Twano, not ever

He had his own workshop inside a mud hut
A secretive man, he kept his door shut
From inside that hut came crashes and clangs
The soundings of poundings, bashes and bangs

The villagers outside Twano's hut speculated
Just what in the world was being created
One said "A bicycle!", another "A boat!"
"A wristwatch", "A phone", "A mechanical goat!"

Weeks went on by until one afternoon
They heard Twano shout, "Right, I'm off to the moon!"
The villagers gathered around, with breath bated
Twano emerged, looking tired but elated

They dragged out his invention, proudly it stood
A twenty foot rocket ship made out of wood!
"Farewell, earthly creatures!" bellowed Twano, grin wide
He opened the rocket door and clambered inside

The fuse was ignited, the villagers stared
The grown-ups were spellbound, the children were scared
They gazed as the fuse went from long down to short
Then the rocket exploded with a deafening report

They found Twano lying two miles from the blast
They put salve on his burns and his leg in a cast
They returned to the rocket and put out the fire
Twano just mumbled, "That's it, I retire!"