A Pleasant Life

Ms. Marmot sprawled her downy tummy on

Her favorite beige, quite knobby rock

On routine lookout for—awk!—

Mrs. Red-Tailed Hawk

Considering the meaning of her sun-filled life.

She had no husband, had no wife,

Had lots of kids engaged in humdrum strife,

Had not the talent to toot a fife,

But she now had my whole backyard

Chock-full of quickly growing weedly food …

And she felt just fine and dandy

And in a purely pleasant frame of mood.