MERRY CHRISTMAS, LITTLE WORM!

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"THE SMALLEST WORM WILL TURN,
BEING TRODDEN ON...."
    ----William Shakespeare
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That December morning---our tomato boxes,
    Now frost-covered, and bare of plants---
lay there in our yard in twenty degree
    weather; they had produced
several hundred big nice red tomatoes.
    The soil was resting.

While tidying up the yard a bit, I spied
    our Cutco trowel, picked it up
to stow in the shed.

It had snowed several times, tho' not
    heavily...
My farm-boy curiosity asserted itself
    and I decided by trowel-and-error
to determine the moisture content
    of our tomato boxes.

'Way down deep I dug with my trowel
    in a corner of that heavy plastic
"Earth Box" dirt.
    Well, would you "lookie there?"
Left over from the summer was this
    nice little pink worm!
Where was the worm-ball...the rest
    of his buddies? Was he a scout?

This soil removal was akin to ripping
     the quilts off a cozy sleeper on a
midwinter night. My friends,
    this was an unhappy worm!
Why he sort of "reared up," as if to fight.
    (Down in W. Texas, they'd say:
"Rared up.")

I thought to myself: Shakespeare had it---
    "The smallest worm will turn, being
trodden upon."

At one time in my life, I'da thought---
    "Wow, what a good worm for
CATFISHING!"

Now, with years of wisdom, wonder,
   and musings---about the marvels
of creation, all accumulated in my mind,
    I thought: "What a Creator, Who can
fashion little brains, nerves, muscles,
    a tiny digestive system, and all
the rest---so minute as to fit right into
    that little pink worm!
(The only thing he was lacking that day...
    was fur!)

It was cold...it was biting; here was
    another of my fellow creatures
just trying to get along.
    I poked at him gently with the
tip of my trowel, just to determine
    his "status," as if on Facebook.
He was "good to go!"

Suddenly an idea hit me! I raced (?)
    on my cane  into the house,
grabbed a piece of wheat bread---
    (healthy for worms---has fiber---)
went back to my box and crumbled
    that bread all around him!
"Merry Christmas, little worm! If you
    are a scout worm, your pals
will be proud!"

Having let all his worm-warmth escape,
    I gently covered him with some
soft soil. Brrrrrr----it was cold to him,
    I'm sure!

          Even though, at my age, I was

              sort of pooped by my philanthropic

          EVENT, I realized that there were likely

            some poetic metaphors to be gained

          from this encounter.

Worms.........Hmmm,
       How about comparing worms to humans? 

Say, the world, metaphorically, is full
   of little worms.
(Isaac Watts even wrote:  “for such
  a worm as I.”)
The problem arises when there
   are little worms in life--that in
their OWN MINDS---think they are big
  worms!  It is most important to them---
That they be looked upon...
  As “BIG WORMS!” 

And, my reader, if perchance
    You are a “little” worm---also
Haven’t there been a few times in your life---
  If you had it all to do over...
You’d have reared up, and turned....

having been trodden on?

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BY MIL
12/15/13