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Dads Rabbit Hunting Cat
Dad often spoke of this; he swore that it was true.
I’ll try to do it justice, and pass it on to you.
When he was just a young lad living on the farm,
He trained a cat to hunt rabbit... it could do no harm.
It trailed like any hound, caterwauling as it ran;
Bringing the wiliest bunnies, to the guns sights of young Dan.
One winter day, at ten degrees below.
So cold... spit would freeze, before it hit the snow.
Of a sudden... there went a rabbit, Tom right on its tail.
Screaming like a demon, making a frightful wail.
Dad was nearly frozen; his hand stuck to his gun;
He couldn’t reach the trigger, so he let the bunny run.
Tom was confused, it wasn’t like this lad,
To let a rabbit get away, when he gave it all he had.
Hunting blood was in him, he wasn’t about to quit,
He chased the rabbit around again... even gained a little bit.
Dad freed his hand, pulled the hammer back,
Squeezed on the trigger and heard it crack.
Being so bitter cold, his judgment a wee bit slow,
Bunny got clean away, but Tom flipped over in the snow.
Racing to its side, he saw the damage he’d done;
He shot a front leg clean off, figured now it would never run.
Raised to be compassionate, he couldn't do Tom in.
He carried him back home, and commenced to nursing him.
Through Winter into Summer, he cleaned and dressed the leg;
If he took his rifle from the wall, the critter would howl and beg.
By Fall the stub healed clean, Tom could hobble a bit.
Dad made him a wooden leg, tried it on to check its fit.
Oh the joy... he couldn't have pleased Tom more.
He ran around the house, his wooden leg thumping the floor.
Now you realized it had to happen, when Winter rolled around,
Tom was ready to hunt, if there was rabbit to be found.
Lighting out across the pasture, toward the creek on frozen snow,
They crunched across hard pack, Tom thumping wherever he’d go.
From under a bush jumped a rabbit... Tom let out a terrific wail,
He disappear into a thicket, hot on the bunny’s tail.
“Stay put when you jump them... they’ll usually come back,” Dad learned,
But ten minutes had passed, and still they hadn’t turned.
Following the trail they made, studying footprints on the ground,
He entered a small ravine, then heard a familiar sound.
Thump, thump... thump, thump, was coming from right close by,
Stepping over a log, around a tree, Dad couldn’t believe his eyes.
He swears the cat has no equal, cause right there in the river bed,
Tom was beating that bunny, with his wooden leg on top of its head.
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