Shrub turned around and looked down–So did Shackles
Drumbeater looked, and he hiked up his hackles
Itchascratch hiccuped–his upper lip curled
They’d forgotten about the so-called Nother World
The hundreds of Towers that stood under Us’s–
Some of them owners of big blunderbusses
And every last one intertwined with the Loop
That linked the Great Hoop to the source of Go-Goop.

“Wait!” cried the Nothers, “Consider what’s coming!
Remember–the Go-Goop that runs in our plumbing,
The Goop that keeps all of our Hoops going ’round,
And the Goop that Goddam has in store underground–

“Us Goop or Them Goop, it’s all of the same Goop
The same old be-careful-it-bursts-into-flame Goop!
The stuff that we use to go higher and faster
Could take us all down in one great big disaster
Blow up Goddam and the next thing you know
The next thing will blow and then on it will go . . .

“Just look at our Towers, all shifting and shaking
Our wheels are all wobbling! Our plumbing is breaking!
And all it would take is one well-aimed ka-blam
While you’re bent over double to get at Goddam . . .
“And all of us could wind up under the weather
Because,” said the Nothers, “We’re tied up together!”

But Shrub, with a shrug, said, “We’ll go it alone.”
He turned and he frowned and he hung up the phone