The Hare and The Tortoise - April 9, 2023

there might be another meaning

to that old proverb about

“slow and steady wins the race”

that’s it’s not a competition

but an expectation a prediction

the cottontail turns into the tortoise

that in time the ears fold back

merge and harden with

the curve of the spine

and become a shell

that the legs shorten and wrinkle

lose their hair

and the hop and scamper

slows to a lumbering shuffle

and the rest of the rabbit?

in mom’s old eyes

i sometimes see it squeeze

just under the fence

and run like crazy