Groundhog Testifies

Don Coles
From:   Landslides. McClelland & Stewart, 1986, 1993, p 14

There is a narrow endless place
Where the earth has frozen; on this
They live at unbelievable speeds
While it is light and when it is dark
Different ones, ten times longer
And composed mostly of yellow air
The same width as the frozen place,
Live there instead; these in spite of
So much greater length behave about the same.
You cannot dig there. The next day
They all come back, they have not
Grown tired only discovered their mistake.
Who knows what purpose this has?
When we go into the frozen place
They become angry and kill us. They never
Stand motionlessly for minutes erect
And when being so deprived they grow
Distressed or weak they smash one another.
They have no idea how fragrant and far down
Home is.

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