Ramblings from Lady Rosalie: September 2014

Friday, September 5, 2014

Charles Darwin

Have you heard about the Darwin Awards?

Books and websites dedicated to

People, who,

By their own stupidity remove themselves from the human gene pool.

Their exploits make entertaining reading,

And personally I’m glad they are no longer breeding.

This isn’t about the human species.

It’s Darwin’s theory applied to mice.

And no this story isn’t nice,

nor does it have a happy ending.

But every word is true and though the reason is perplexing,

It does explain why

we should take care how empty containers lie.

This story’s about a lesson learned the hard way

For three young mice who dared to play

‘Follow the leader’ on a vase’s rim.

Their mistake was lethal;

’cause they fell in.

It wasn't until they began to smell

I found them in their private hell

Huddled bodies in the base of a vase,

Tall prison of glass.

Together they shared their miserable fate, their dismal death,

Watching each other take their last breath.

I hate to think how they spent their last day

Desperate, dying, freedom visible, but a world away.

I grieve for them, in their dismal plight

And vow to try to make things right,

(Save for the bright, smart surviving vermin

-by Darwin’s reasoning- who refused to join them,)

I think of those silly mice who live life impulsively,

and threaten their species' survival with impunity.

I vow that I, at least,

will always strive

To store tall vases

on their side.

Rosalie Skinner

Monday, September 15, 2014