CEDRIC


Cedric is a centipede.
He lives in a hole and will concede
that life's not easy in a garden
Where birds are hungry and you must keep your eyes on
Where they think their next meal lurks.
It could be you - so stay alert!
Aside from that he spends his day
Centipede-a-ling his way
Past fragrant roses of exquisite bloom
And through herbs exuding sweet perfume.
Perhaps he'll stop by Sidney's web
And get the gossip on gossamer thread
Or check out what the bees are doing
They're usually busy buzzing and zooming
Back and forth to harvest flowers
Collecting pollen for hours and hours.
He's often pondered their aerodynamics
For he read somewhere
(Was it Popular Mechanics?)
That its physically impossible for them to fly
So he chuckles to himself as another zips by.

About eleven o'clock each day
Cedric takes a winding way
That leads him to a well-worn track
To a rickety, wobbly, wooden shack,
Where, sheltered from the wind its warmer,
And he curls up to doze in a dusty corner.
You may think he's lazy and one night's sleep's enough
But moving a hundred legs is tough!

After his nap it takes a minute
To stretch each leg and get the circulation in it.
Once this exercise is done
Its back outdoors to enjoy the Sun
Unless of course its a rainy day
When there's serious danger of being washed away.
Then he waits and twiddles his toes
And, I assure you, he's got lots of those!

Unlike you his life is meager
There's no chance of being a little-leaguer
For baseball's not big in the small creature world
And Babe Ruth's just sweet crumbs left by that little girl
Who sits on the swing and flies up in the air.
Cedric wonders what its like up there.
He tried it once and climbed the apple tree
But, being short sighted, he did not see
Further than the nearest branch
Where the bird sitting there nearly caught him for lunch!
So now he never ventures there
And leaves birds, butterflies and bees to rule the air.

Although his life's simple, Cedric's learned
To find the joy in a stone unturned.
He says, "You'll never know who you'll meet
When you turn a corner in the street"
And "My friends are very important to me"
And if you ask them, they'd agree.
Cedric will help if you're in need
He really is a fine centipede.

There's only one thing he'd hate to lose
More than a friend -
And that's his shoes!


B.F.Clark
copyright 1996

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