ANT DANCING

In the early morning air, on a leaf of mint green,
If you had looked very closely you might have seen,
An ant, withered and gray, with one leg gone,
Dancing with delight, on the tip of the frond,
As it swayed above the cool blue pond,

and her dancing went on . . .

. . and on

. . . and on.

Why doesn't she stop? Can't she see she's unfit?
Said an earthworm by the name of Miss Kitt,
We need to save her, she's going to die,
Doesn't she have any friends who are willing to try?

But the insects, the arachnids, the worms and such,
Took one look and decided they couldn't do much,
'Cause if they did what Miss Kitt thought they oughta,
They could all fall with her into the water.

So they gathered around the base of the plant,
And clapped and sang a song for the ant,
And she kicked her legs and tapped her toe,

and she fell . . .

And Miss Kitt said, " I told you so."

The crowd clapped louder, shouting, "Bravo, Dear Friend!"
Miss Kitt didn't get it, all she saw was the end,
Until, stepping forward, a small moth named Sally,
Said, "That was a truly wonderful finale."


by Cate

Note:
Last year I participated in a week of writing assignments on the internet with a project called Blog 5. The first assignment we had, on Monday, was "Growing Old with Dr. Seuss". I love Dr. Seuss poems as most of you know, but had never written one. This assignment gave me the impetus I needed.

I am reading Dr. Seuss's "Horton Hatches An Egg" tomorrow at the school I retired from, and where my daughter teaches now. My daughter told me to be sure and bring the poem I wrote to share with the kids. Phin and Ragged nudged me into sharing it here with you. I hadn't posted it because I knew several of you had already read it, but for those of you who haven't...here it is! I'm working on an illustration to go with it.