THE BOY AND THE SQUIRREL
THE BOY AND THE SQUIRREL
By Chuck Sullivan.......................................................Copyright©1993
For my grandaughters, Tara, Tiffany and Stacy
The story begins as a baby squirrel, falls from a tree,
I just happened by that day, and he landed right on me.
As he came tumbling down, my head broke his fall,
And when he hit the ground, he did not move at all,
I picked him up in my hand, my grip on him was firm.
He then began to move, to wiggle, and to squirm.
I tried to find his mother, as my fingers held him tight,
I looked high and low, there were no squirrels in sight.
At first I thought I'll let him go, but no, I can't do that,
With no mother to care for him, he'd be food for the cat,
I knew I shouldn't keep him, but I kept him just the same,
And now that I was keeping him, I must give him a name.
What do I call the little squirrel that fell from a tree?
I was thinking very hard, but no name would come to me,
The little squirrel looked at me as if he'd like to play,
But if I didn't hold him tight, he might just run away.
I decided that he knew, I would never cause him harm,
And when I opened up my hand, he scampered up my arm,
He squatted on my shoulder, and he looked me in the eye,
It was then his name, came to me, I can't remember why.
I will call you Scamper, and I then, put Scamper down,
Scamper was his name for sure, he scampered all around.
Then he scampered up the tree and I turned to walk away,
When scamper scampered down again, inviting me to play.
He followed me up a stream, to my favorite swimming hole,
And while I took myself a dip, Scamper perched upon a pole.
He tagged along, into a cave, where scamper saw a bat,
Scamper had never, ever seen, anything like that.
Later we saw a porcupine, and an owl up in a tree,
And picked some flowers for my mom, and got chased by a bee,
And we hid behind some rocks, when a skunk wandered by,
Pee U Wee!, that was close, I shuttered with a sigh!
As we were heading home I thought, what a day it's been,
How happy I was feeling, to have Scamper for a friend,
When Mom and Dad saw Scamper, they thought he was a toy.
They had never seen a squirrel, on the shoulder of a boy.
Well Scamper and I had lots of fun for the next year or so,
I knew the time would come someday, when I must let him go,
It happened when another squirrel, caught scampers eye,
It wasn't long till he was gone, at first I wondered why.
Then one day I saw him, and the other squirrel too,
I hadn't known why Scamper left, but now I finally knew,
The friend that scamper left with must have been a girl,
For scampering behind them, were three baby squirrels.
Scamper beamed with pride as they passed in front of me,
His visit was, to let me know, and to see his family,
The last time I saw Scamper was on that very day,
When the boy and the squirrel each went their merry way.
