Waiter! there's an alligator in my coffee

Waiter!...there's an alligator in my coffee.
Are you trying to be funny?
he said:
what do you want for a dime...?
...a circus?
but sir! I said,
he's swimming
around
and around
in my coffee
and he might
jump out on the table...
Feed him a lump of sugar! he snarled -
no!... make it two;
it'll weigh him down
and he'll drown.

I dropped two blocks of sugar
into the swamp,
two grist jaws snapped them up
and the critter -
he never drowned.
Waiter!...there's an alligator in my coffee.
Kill him! Kill him!
he said:
BASH HIS BRAINS OUT
WITH YOUR SPOON...!
By this time
considerable attention had been drawn:
around my coffee
the waiters, the owner,
and customers gathered.
What seems to be the trouble?
the owner inquired,
and I replied:
There's an alligator in my coffee!
...But the coffee's fresh, he said
and raised the cup to his nose...
Careful! I said,
he'll bite it
off
and he replied:
How absurd,
and lowered the cup
level to his mouth and
swallowed
the evidence.