Jeffrey Hull
Friday, December 16, 2005
Chipmunk
A chipmunk cuts my path, and scurries to fulfill
His winter quotas, nervous flag erect,
A cheeky rush before the coming chill;
With frantic industry, yet circumspect
He scurries through the busy underbrush
Obsessed with one more morsel to collect–
As I, absorbed in schemes and sums, just rush
Along the trail and blindly through my years;
Who has the time to stop and hear the hush?
© 2005 Jeffrey Hull
His winter quotas, nervous flag erect,
A cheeky rush before the coming chill;
With frantic industry, yet circumspect
He scurries through the busy underbrush
Obsessed with one more morsel to collect–
As I, absorbed in schemes and sums, just rush
Along the trail and blindly through my years;
Who has the time to stop and hear the hush?
© 2005 Jeffrey Hull
posted by Jeffrey Hull, 7:14 AM
2 Comments:
This was the hardest thing to get together - the rhyme scheme made it a real bear to alter - it has been sitting around for several months. I only put it in the queue because I was running short of stuff. I played with the reverse moral but thought it too trite, along the lines of preachiness to others. So I turned the moralizing back on myself.
(I tried to post this comment yesterday but it didn't transmit. Maybe this one will push the earlier one through.)
I think the third stanza is interesting -- in a good way -- because it implicitly answers its own question: "Who has the time...?" Obviously Jeff Hull does, or if not always the time, at least the intention and the awareness. This contradicts the usual sentimental poetic creature-worship. It's the human being here, not the animal, who is closer to nature.
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I think the third stanza is interesting -- in a good way -- because it implicitly answers its own question: "Who has the time...?" Obviously Jeff Hull does, or if not always the time, at least the intention and the awareness. This contradicts the usual sentimental poetic creature-worship. It's the human being here, not the animal, who is closer to nature.
