The Gerbils

Happily busy in the middle of the night
Destroying their cardboard tube. To sleep
They make a hurricane of straw and declare
This is the middle of us — enough
Already. And their greatest achievement
Is destruction. I love these animals.
Happy enough with their cubes
Of unhappiness for dinner and beads
Of water from the metal tube. Cal
Spins the luck of his wheel and Reb
Files a song on the bars of their cage.
And Wil stuffs his nose in his haystack
And dreams of stuffing his nose in hay,
All while I worry my life away.

Copyright © 2002 Rustin Larson All rights reserved
from Bryant Literary Review
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission