Hoodwinked

My Grandmother raised black Cocker Spaniels

she called  “Midnights.”

Her care of them taught me

kindness, love, and quick thinking.

 

My dog’s name was Glow Worm,  

and The Mills Brothers sang her a song,

“Shine little glow worm, glimmer, glimmer.

Shine little glow worm, shimmer, shimmer.”

 

The song is about a beetle, and a nightingale,

the bird that sang throughout the night

while the beetle’s larval sac

cast a brilliant but toxic light.

 

The nightingale, exhausted,

announced that she needed a snack –

but the worm, for fear of being accosted

answered back:

Little bird, did you admire my brilliant light,

as much as I admired your singing?

I know you’d hate to do me wrong,

as I would hate to ruin your winging!

Thus was born a diplomatic grub,

who knew that what goes ’round

comes  ’round too.

 

2008