All Gifts Great and Small

When I was ten I went to spend my birthday by this lake;
it’s Cowen’s Gap I did unwrap to compliment my cake.
I went into the water blue below the cliffs of slate;
but creatures crashed with real panache, as I now illustrate.

At first a fox brought me two rocks bound by a verdant tie;
where then a bear with long black hair gave me a hefty sigh.
He had his say then strolled away to make room for a mouse;
a piece of field became his yield from his wee-modest house.

As she got near, a gentle deer bestowed a fern-like bow;
I dropped a buck right by the truck but she declined the dough.
And then as she went past a tree that bore some foreign fruit,
an owl did glide along my side and gave me quite a hoot.

A groundhog popped up to the top of this moss-covered hill;
and by his hole appeared a mole who just could not keep still.
But then as one, in summer sun, they brought their presents down;
my folks and I were startled by those gifts from underground.

Then an otter splashed the water and scared away a fin;
he did install a dimpled ball some golfer had chipped in.
Beyond his drift another gift was offered by a skunk;
I was an heir, but over there, lolled otter in a funk.

The fine parade these creatures made continued with a hare;
he bunny-hopped before he stopped in front of our lawn chair.
He tapped a paw for me and Ma, (the otter loll kaput);
and then it dawned like a millpond--this was a rabbit’s foot.

Then right in tune a large raccoon displayed his nimble hands;
he had the knack in gray and black with no undue demands.
Within his face I sensed this grace, like pines along the shore;
and as he strode to his abode, he turned his head once more.

To comprehend at only ten is way too much to ask;
it is a screen, for youth is green and often wears a mask.
I look back now and I see how life’s like a binding glove;
in joy achieved, since I received eleven gifts of love.


32 Lines
Writer's Cramp Winner
7-1-20

Woodland Cast at Cowen’s Gap:

Fox
Bear
Mouse
Deer
Owl
Groundhog
Mole
Otter
Skunk
Hare
Raccoon