God’s Acrobat

The jay stretches out its blue wings

The sparrow flits softly around

The mouse in its nest thinks of getting some rest

The squirrel cascades to the ground

His moment not wasting: now winter

Descends like a cat on its prey

Winged creatures can go from the ice and the snow

But the sure-footed squirrel must stay

He’s ransacked the earth for his supper

He’s hidden his share of the store

His share and another, the share of his brother

Who worries the landscape for more

He climbs to the treetop to survey

What’s left of the blown season’s prize

The ground is too bare to be finding much there

But down in the branches he spies

Some mesh-lined contraptions of copper

A-gleam in the waning day’s light

Sure meant for the feeding of birds who are needing

Restocking their bellies for flight

Brave squirrel: now preening, now twisting

To shake out the bounty of seeds

The bird-feeders sway, the pert chippies give way

The grain tumbles down to the weeds

And then, like a rocket he flares out

Gray fur streaking by in a flash

No sooner he lands than on haunches he stands

And scrambles to gather his cache

As one at the window admires

The show of his prowess and grace

He scampers away like the light of the day

And I have a smile on my face