Wednesday, April 17, 2019

SURPRISED BY MR. SNAIL




It rained the night before
       and I sat at my writing place
          early that fresh spring morning
  pondering a pithy piece   and was
        much engrossed...
  when all of a sudden    on the ornate
             window ledge
  a big fat snail appeared  and of all 
       things there at near eye level...

  It surprised me and who knows
      how  he got that high!
          Why did he do the climb?

  Forgetting what I was about, for 
       I was mesmerized and he had
          only to crawl five feet
  and we'd be eyeballing each other
             and here he came
          crawling along the ledge, toward
               and oblivious of me

   Being somewhat of a poet I began
        to think of meanings and things
            and questions came to mind--

   ---What is a snail's purpose in
          being on earth?
   ---Does he know...does he  wonder?
   ---Is he in a hurry to get it done?
   ---Do snails love and help fellow
          snails?
   ---Do they ever get in a hurry...
          or get high blood pressure?
Then...
   ---Do snails, er, sort of marry and
         have baby snails? 
   ---Did the Creator have committees
         of angels to help design the
           critters of the world?
   ---What's it like to spend half the
          time, buried in cold lawns in
           winter?
   ---And coming out in summer,
         mostly only when it rains?
   ---Snails seem to get sticky---do
          they bathe enough?
   ---Of snails and men--is there any
          similarity?

    When BE refilled my coffee cup
      I never noticed...and being  lost in 
         a sort of reverie---I thought
    to myself: "Maybe tiny creatures
       deserve to be noticed...and
         written about..."

  Then I looked...and saw...and 
     realized...that in that whole time---
        my snail had come...
             only a foot.
--------
By Mil
Art by Karen M.

16 APRIL 19

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