Elegy for a Sluggish Snail

[FONT=&quot]One foggy, grey morning hour,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Hurrying along the Walker’s Trail,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I espied in time, ahead, a snail,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]That made me pause, restive and dour.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]About to crush it underfoot,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I quickly altered my nimble pace,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]And started then freshly apace,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Hating having to pussyfoot.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]A snail on a morning walk?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The thought indeed made me smile,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Yet, keen on doing my own three mile,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I forbore from turning to gawk![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I hurried, my pace restored,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]My thoughts, but then, retraced,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]To the creeping snail, sedately paced,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]And thus he had me clearly floored![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Humorously questioned my mind,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Is he out on a morning chore?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Did walkers’ feet disturb his snore?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There’s some reason Mind opined.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Is he battling snail diabetes?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Or fighting ‘gastropodic’ flab?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Or an exercise to look very fab?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I wondered just what it is![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]His morning sleep he did forgo,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]And braving the chill and human feet,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The little fellow was on his feat,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The uni-valved escargot![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The next time I came around,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I found him still there; altogether,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Having gone a foot further,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]On the stony uneven ground.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]‘Move on fella!’ My heart did bid,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]But my brain, the Skeptic, did wonder,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Will his fate come asunder?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Oh no! I exclaimed, God forbid![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]One more round and I found him there, [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The victim of a mishap enroute,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Squished and crushed by a careless boot,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The little martyr of the sad affair![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Now, as I walk, down do I glance,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]When my own feet reach the spot,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]My heart does tie up in a knot,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]For a snail’s death I saw perchance![/FONT][FONT=&quot]
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