Work Text:
Modus Operandai
You may ask what they call me, but I think you know,
though it's true that you humans are sometimes quite slow.
My name is The Lorax, or at least it once was,
And lately my actions have been making a buzz.
Though they still read my book it seems ineffective
It goes against the basic human directive,
Everyone knows that man's posessions must come first,
and theres so many of them, the world's fit to burst.
Oh, I did try to show you why you were so wrong,
I did tell you that bad things would soon come along,
But in prideful willfulness onward you shuffled,
and now it's too late—nature's cries are too muffled.
And so now I accept I was wrong all along,
There was no way I'd reach you through love and through song.
All my cuteness and rhyming—they just weren't enough,
so I'm sorry to say that my methods turned... Rough.
I dressed like my enemies, wrapped up in a suit,
with a tie and a vest and a jacket to boot,
and as much as you humans may beg, plead, or sob,
I'm afraid that the onceler did not do his job.
He did not save my forests, my friends, or my self,
He did not save my sweet world, despite all his wealth.
Locked up in his tower, my sad sorry old friend,
he could not save my world, I'm afraid, in the end.
Now I pick and I chose who to kill in my cleanse,
Be it women with children, or two dear best friends.
There's no need for doctors—there's no one here to save,
the same tree you would cut down will soon be your grave.
My old arms were too short for the work I now do,
So I grew myself more—roughly six more, plus two.
Now I can reach higher, and stand up twice as tall,
So now I can watch better as all of you fall.
I will hang you up nicely, all tied in a bow,
After all it won't do to be messy, you know.
At the first that was all that I needed to do,
but as I have gone on, that is no longer true.
The organs came later, I'm still not quite sure why,
I cannot stop the compulsion, nor do I try.
Inside you lies your problems, in muscles and bones,
Your hearts are just like the Grinch's—like tiny stones.
So hide in your snuggly bed and cover your face,
Quite soon you will vanish without leaving a trace.
For I am The Lorax, but slender and strong.
This world is my world, and you do not belong.