Little Noah sat in his sand box,

His animal toys scattered about.

The sky above was cloudy;

Impending rain, there was no doubt.

But his GI Joes were finicky;

They never seemed to stand straight.

It frustrated Noah often;

They never seemed to cooperate.

But Little Noah was a good boy

He always did what his Daddy said.

So when Noah's Daddy came outside

Noah raised his eager head.

"Noah, it's gonna storm soon,

And I saw you out here playing in the sand.

You better get those toys under cover;

You better save'em while you can."

"Judging from that dark skyline,

I'd say you've got about forty minutes

But once the storm gets here,

Your sandbox'll have only water in it."

Little Noah answered, "Yes sir, Daddy,

I'll take heed to what you say."

Then he separated his GI Joes and animals

He'd just have to play another day.

He ran all the way inside to his bedroom

And he found his GI Joe Carrier

He took it back out to the sandbox

And with toy blocks he built a barrier

It didn't take long for him to see

He didn't have room for all the Joes,

But he cared more for the animals

He loaded them two by two, in neat rows.

Noah looked in the sand in frustration

He couldn't get all the Joes on the boat.

He shrugged his shoulders and gave up

When the rains came and he started to get soaked.

Noah closed the lid to the carrier

But he abandoned the leftover GI Joes.

He ran into the safety of his house

To seek shelter from his current woes.

While Noah waited for the rains to stop

He stared out his back window in wonder.

He waited for the rain to stop;

Til he could no longer hear any thunder.

Finally the sun came out

And Noah ran outside to check on his toys.

When he arrived back to the sandbox

He found both dread and joy.

There floating face down in the water,

Leaving Noah to feel morose

With the sandbox completely flooded

Were Noah's poor GI Joes.

But amidst the floating toy corpses

Stood the carrier, stuck on toy blocks.

It got stuck against the barrier,

Instead of being washed from the sandbox.

Noah opened the lid to the carrier

And to his surprise he did see

All his toy animals, and a couple of Joes

As dry as dry could be.

Noah may have been a young boy

But he thanked his Daddy that night;

Because he had sense enough to listen to his Daddy

And he was grateful for his Daddy's foresight.