Games

Next to the compost pile
a hole or burrow or tunnel.
What furry creature resides there?
Quite possibly there's a pair.

This something only comes out at night
after I've retired for bug bites
chase me inside early each night
before the sunset becomes twilight.

It eats to its heart's content
from the compost's content
fortunately not realizing
fresh vegetation grew in the garden.

My neighbor told me it was a woodchuck.
Another name for a ground hog.  Just my luck.
I need to come up with a plan quick
to scare off this varmint, to outwit.

This woodchuck
did not chuck
any wood
that I know of.

He did, however, chuck
many, many rocks
that were wedged in the burrow
with his nose and head somehow.

For every morning those rocks
were again up on top.
He had come to chow down
sometime before dawn.

Last evening's parings
he thought were for sharing.
Content he was
with peach skin fuzz.

Rather a woodchuck or a ground hog, I do not know.
I do know I'm thankful he has left town, though.
Hopefully he became
tired of playing the game...

of my wedging rocks in the burrow
then his emptying the tunnel
with its nose.
I suppose.

Woodchucks,
do not knock,
they tend to invite themselves.
Gardeners might cry 'help'
for lettuce and pecs and corn and beans
are no longer seen in rows of green.

Ground hogs
don't jog
but can be seen
in fields of green
where into their tunnel
they quickly burrow
after eating
from gardens.

* * * * *

Oh the joys of gardening!
Everyday something needs tending.
Oh the joys of aging!
Everyday something's aching.

Dedicated gardeners won't let a few aches
keep them from their morning-to-evening date
with what's waiting out behind the garden gate
for every morning new surprises await.

Wonderment is found so don't be late
for everyday miracles await.
The miracle of food upon your plate.
Awe over the assortment God did create.

Amazement over delicate flower blooms.
Everyday a rainbow of new blooms perfume.
There's much in one's garden to see and admire.
To talk about, gardeners never seem to tire.

And tomorrow they will be back again
to finish yesterday's chores in the garden.
A gardener's work is never, ever done
rather the gardener be man or woman.

Here's some words of wisdom direct from Solomon.
I think he spent some time working under the sun.
Isn't that what gardeners do -
work under the sun after the dew
has dried upon the grass
for there's always another task
that awaits.
Don't be late.

Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

Ecclesiastes 3:18-19

Ecclesiastes 8:15

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