One Hundred Dwarfs

When I got to the house

The first seven dwarfs

Were outside

Toasting marshmallows

Around a campfire

‘Go on in,’ they said

By ‘in’ they meant

Past the blue and beet-colored door

Into the largest cottage

I’d ever seen

Inside I met the eighth dwarf

Somewhat Funny

Who told me a joke

That kind of clever

But caused me to chuckle

Instead of laugh loudly

Luckily for me

Really Very Funny was in the kitchen

And the joke he told

Was hilarious

Much better than the joke

Told to me

By Somewhat Funny

In the sitting room

I met Cozy

Who was cozy

And would always

Be that way

Even when sitting

In very uncomfortable chairs

Perky was in the ballroom

Teaching Clumsy and Flowy

How to do the cha cha

Clumsy would fall on Flowy

But somehow Flowy

Would keep being Flowy

Which reminds me--

Out in the garden

I met Flowery

And Healthy

Flowery was in charge

Of the azaleas

And Healthy was the boss

Of the rutabagas

Furry was stationed

Above the fireplace

Pretending to be a bear

But if you walked by him

He’d growl

And then laugh

And Really Very Funny

Would tell him

That he wasn’t very funny

But I thought it was sort of

Very funny

So Furry and I exchanged a look

And I continued exploring the cottage

Knotty’s hair was always in knots

And Naughty was always

Getting into trouble

And for some reason

Knotty and Naughty liked

Spending time together

And they also sort of resembled one another

Which made trying to separate

Knotty from Naughty

Very difficult indeed

Tricky liked playing tricks on people

And there another dwarf named Also Tricky

But he just liked doing magic tricks

And there was a third dwarf named

Even More Tricky

And he liked Halloween a little too much

And refused to take off his costume

So you might think there was a tiny ghost

Haunting the cottage

If you didn’t know who Even More Tricky was

By my last count

There were a hundred dwarfs

In the surprisingly spacious

Cottage in the woods

And they said I was more than welcome

To stay if I liked

I told them I would like to very much

But when they asked me what my name was

I told them

And they seemed confused

Because my name didn’t tell them

Anything about me

That was when we talked about how

You learn who people are

From getting to know them

Not just what you think about them

When you first meet

A name can tell you some things

And so can a first impression

Or what someone likes doing

Or does a lot of the time

But it’s only one part of who they are

I told Naughty that just because

His name was Naughty

That doesn’t mean

He has to be naughty all the time

And that sometimes

He can be knotty like Knotty

If he wants to

This seemed to make the dwarfs

Very, very happy

Especially Very, Very Happy the dwarf

Who is always happy

But sometimes wants to be Not-So-Happy

And have that be okay

Soon all the dwarfs were trying out

All sorts of ways of being

Instead of letting their names
Do all the work