Wednesday, December 26, 2018

My Brother’s Squirrel Story

My Brother’s Squirrel Story

He ate mostly from a bowl of Holiday nuts,
Walnuts, hazels, pecans, brazils,
Which I bought at ‘The Dollar’
  For ninety-nine cents

When he was done leaving the shells all over
He would take the rest and hide them,
In closets, shoes, under the carpet in the corner,
  We’re still finding them

He was a baby squirrel, who
My nature-loving wife found that summer,
A furry but fallen unopened eyed thing,
She bottle-fed nursed him, until he grew up,
  A playfully friendly and mischievous pup

He would curl and cuddle in a crescent with the cat,
He made his own nest in an old upturned hat,
By the fall he had grown, but we hadn’t the will
  To put him back out before winter’s harsh chill

So we gave him the Thanksgiving centerpiece to eat,
Let him climb up the tree, Christmas Eve, for a treat, 
Come Groundhog Day and his shadow grew strong,
And we felt in our hearts that it wouldn’t be wrong
  To let him go out when comes Spring cleaning time
 
Since then we’ve wondered, where’s our baby got too?
There are lots of his kind, our neighborhood is a zoo,
No way we can tell one gray squirrel from another,
  He had plenty of cousins, and sisters, and brothers

Until next Christmas day, by the slider back door,
Maybe fifteen or more, perhaps close to a score,
Was a stack of dried acorns, all piled up nice,
  Far too large to be left by our chipmunks or mice

 

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