Rat Poetry: Thankful to be Squirrel, Not Rat, Mouse, or Turkey.

My Rat Story

I had a tragically brief relationship with a rat (some say it is a field mouse, but "field mouse" is not conducive to poetic meter tho' I am meeting with some argument on that front as well). I met Niccolo as my brother's cat was "playing" with him. I relegated the cat, Miss Lee-lee, to my brother's room. I put little Niccolo into a Birkenstock shoe box, and I gave him a warm rag to curl up in and a few pieces of cat food (I know rats or "field mice" like cat food as we had one in our house for a while that used to taunt us from the cat food bowl--- but I digress). Three hours after rescuing said rat, he succumbed to the mortal wound inflicted upon him by the evil cat, Leah. I wished to bury him properly, but as I was preparing for the funeral, my rat-hating husband "interred" him in the trash can. Sensing my need for comfort, a friend sent me a lovely tribute to Nic. "Ah," thought I, "what better way to memorialize little Niccolo than through poetry?" Hence the blog. If you are a rat poet, then I kindly ask for your own tributes to Niccolo, whose untimely death, I hope, will at least serve the world of poetry. Of course, I also welcome any other rodent poetry. Perhaps others have special rodent "connections" they would like to share. I should add that I am quite fond of squirrels.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thankful to be Squirrel, Not Rat, Mouse, or Turkey.

"Squirrel Gifts"
'Tis the gift to be squirrel, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to eat nuts and scamper happily.

And when we find ourselves on the fence by the house,
Thankful are we, we are not a rat or mouse.

When true squirrel-icity is gain'd,
We tease the kitties, and we are not ashamed.

To tease, tease will be our delight,
Till by teasing, teasing we give the cats a fright.
--Fambly Squirrels (with a nod to the Shaker community)

Happy Thanksgiving all! We're glad you humans picked turkey instead of squirrel for this holiday. And should you want to play our tune, the music is below: