One spring, after a cold and hungry winter,
When greens were sprouting
Through melting snow like splinters,
And streams meandered
Through the valley’s juicy grasses,
And life seemed sweeter than
A bucket of molasses,
Barn animals had left the farm to graze
In warm and cozy early April haze.

The sheep, and goats, horses, and the cows,
Few donkeys, llamas, bulls, and a few sows;
Alas, unwittingly, on pasture, as they grazed,
Few grazing native bison were displaced!

These bison, as unsettled as can be,
In their pride and fury would not ever flee.
They gathered their herd to push away
Intruders from their pasture, come what may.

Yet all were hungry after the long winter,
The pasture’s grass, a treat couldn’t be greater,
And such a cherished and abundant platter!
It would not be so easy to give up!
In their community, this question had come up.

Meanwhile, in the bushes flanking pasture,
Another conflict was brewing even faster;
And faster it was brewing for a reason:
The wolves had just survived a lean cold season.

Encroached by the Bear, emerging after winter,
The wolves were watching the green pasture
With an interest even greater:
Observing the delicious fatty grazers,
They fantasized about future flavors.

So, what to do, as we approach
The summer heat,
When grass burns off, and
Once again there will be less to eat?

The wise and wily Fox
Proposed a solution:
To gather a committee
To decide on distribution.

The great and honorable
Chicken as presiding,
With wolves, and Bear,
And bison all advising.

For inclusivity, they brought
A League of Monkeys too,
Empowered with the keys to
Barns and buildings of the zoo,
For those deemed not fit to pasture free,
To be locked up for the collective safety.

And folks, who knows how all of this will end:
Will Chicken be proclaiming what to mend?
Will wily Fox be planning a big coup?
Will the Bear gather honey “for the group”?

The bison will still roam
And chew their cud,
While pushing their
Neighbors into mud;

The wolves will write
The laws and rules for sheep;

As for the rest,
In mud they all will keep;
And all of them will be
In mud knee-deep!

Paul Pinkhasik
June 8, 2024