Inspired by Max’s blog, ‘Old Steam Ships’ –
SS Fleurus: The Day the Circus Ship
Caught Fire, this is my ballad for
Shirley and Jenny. As you may have
guessed by the name of my site, I am
extremely fond of elephants; they
do not belong in the circus.
Please check out Max’s site
for the story of the SS Fleurus.
© PBS
Foreword: Shirley and Jenny were two captive circus elephants who shared an incredible reunion at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee in 1999. Shirley was captured in Sumatra in 1948 and spent decades in a traveling circus, followed by years of isolated captivity at the Louisiana Purchase Zoo. Jenny was born wild in Sumatra in 1972 and spent one winter in the circus with Shirley before being moved. She later sustained a severe leg injury at a breeding facility, resulting in amputation below the knee. When Shirley arrived at the sanctuary in Tennessee, both she and Jenny grew intensely frantic to touch, using so much force that they bent the steel bars that separated them. When workers at the sanctuary opened the gate, the two elephants ran together, intertwining their trunks in immediate, joyful recognition. Neither of them had forgotten the emotional bond they shared during their one winter together in the circus, even after a decades-long separation. For the next seven years, Shirley and Jenny remained inseparable, living a mother/daughter-style dynamic. Jenny passed away in 2006, with Shirley standing vigil by her side through her final moments. Shirley lived on as matriarch until passing away peacefully in 2021 at age 72. Their story was famously featured in the Emmy-winning PBS documentary “The Urban Elephant”.
© InspireMore.com
The Winter We Remember (song created by me and Suno)
There was a winter long ago,
one season, come and gone ….
a small one shivered in the cold
till a giant led her on.
Shirley stood the storms for her,
a shield against the sky,
and something took root in that short time
that twenty years could not deny.
Chorus
Oh, the winter we remember,
though the world has torn apart,
love don’t measure in the calendar ….
it measures in the heart.
Twenty years of silence, girl,
and still you knew my name.
Some bonds don’t fade, they only wait
for the day we meet again.
They walked her off in chains and rope,
to a yard of concrete gray,
and Jenny’s road wound far from there,
through her own long, lonesome days.
No letters passed, no photographs,
just a memory buried deep ….
one small season by a mother’s side
that a lifetime couldn’t sweep.
(Chorus)
Then a truck rolled in on a summer night,
and a gate swung slow and wide,
and something old woke up in her
that she’d carried deep inside.
She ran, she roared, she pressed the bars
till the steel itself gave way ….
twenty-two years came pouring out
in the space of a single day.
Chorus
Oh, the winter we remember,
came back louder than a bell,
love don’t ask you to explain it,
it just knows, and knows it well.
Trunk to trunk and breath to breath,
they cried out, I know you still ….
some bonds don’t break, they only bend,
like steel bars always will.
Seven years they walked as one,
through the fields of Tennessee,
Shirley standing watch at noon
so her old friend could sleep.
And when the last night finally came
and Jenny couldn’t rise,
Shirley stayed until the dawn,
then walked off with the sky.
Final Chorus
Oh, the winter we remember,
it never did let go ….
love don’t care how long the distance,
love just wants you home.
So if you’re carrying someone, friend,
across the years, the miles, the pain ….
hold on, hold on, the way they did,
you may yet meet again.
NAR©2026
This is “Shirley’s Story”, a clip from “The Urban Elephant”
Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated, and may not be used without permission. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.
The Elephant's Trunk 