Sunday, August 9, 2009

Dinner at Dusk



The title sounds elegant but this poem is about a Rat! They get rather a bad press, I fear, and they often deserve it, but Celeste's rat Scabber, curled up here, asleep, after a good meal, looks positively pet-like!

Celeste used the word
'Crepuscular' 
one ABC WEDNESDAY.
I'd never heard it before and I decided the concept was worthy of a poem. 


DINNER AT DUSK!

What a wonderful word 'crepuscular'!
Did you know it applies to me?
My friend Celeste
Pronounces it best,
With the utmost fluency.
I like to sit on her shoulder,
When she's writing big words down,
Then I start to squeal
About getting a meal
And I'm off into the town.
"Is it dusk or dawn?", I ask her,
"Not too dark and not too light?
I'll be safe and sound
Running all around
If conditions are just right."
I can scuttle about in the shadows,
Before the sun appears,
For I feel afraid
Where there isn't shade!
When it's dawn I forget my fears.
Cats roam about in darkness
And then they go home to sleep,
I fear cats because
Of their teeth and claws!
With cats I know life is cheap!
Hawks rule the skies in daylight!
They swoop out of the blue!
I find it's wise
To avoid their eyes!
I know what talons can do.
Yes, the dawn and the dusk are friendly
To a little rat like me.
That's why I say
Keep your night and day!
I live 'crepuscularly'!




Another about a pet here:
http://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/2008/11/208duck-for-cover.html

2 comments:

Jo said...

Oh Brenda, what a lovely rhyme about a lovely little lad. I had a pet rat not too long ago (she died in 1996 at 4 years old)I often think I should do a post about her. Perhaps I will one day. I'm glad I know what crepuscular means now. It's a totally new word for me. Thanks.

Kat said...

heh heh... new word... crepuscular...

the concept of a pet rat itself is new to me..!!!