I am a rabbit born to race the wind,
My feet are quick, my shadow never stays;
I spring ahead where others lag behind,
Yet lose myself in strange, uncharted ways.
They say, “Be tortoise—slow and firm of pace,
For steady steps will always win the day.”
But I am neither built for that calm grace,
Nor meant to plod along a patient way.
What fate has cast me in this fleeting mold—
So soft, so swift, so bright in outward show?
A form that glimmers, charming to behold,
Yet falters when the final winds must blow.
I dash through life with promise in my stride,
Yet reach no end where victory resides.
Hakuna metata
In the fields
of broiling air
plump lambs gambol.
The daytime star
smiles and whirs;
a lone tortoise toils
in plodding rhythm.
His docile baritone sings
the timeless chorus
“Hakuna metata!”
to fretting lions
who grapple tousled
and tangled.
Grandma, the tortoise,
lived hundred forty one years
she witnessed many
animals generations
died at the San Diego Zoo
Checked by www.howmanysyllables.com>syllable_counter
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Mystery of Pumpkin
One upon a time, not far back,
Grew in my small backyard garden
A pumpkin, size of a tortoise,
A monster, with weight of a ton
And had to be chopped with an axe;
Friends wished to have its seeds to plant,
Alas, it was a seedless male;
News spread fast in the neighbourhood
Leading to police enquiry
For concealing information,
But after investigation
Turned out to be a mystery.
Oh me, oh my,
How time keeps tick-tocking by!
Each year shaves pounds of days off the next
Unburdened, it races on, faster and faster yet.
We say, "Wasn't it yesterday or maybe just last week?"
Or "where'd the time go?! Damn the thief!"
Summer break was the Tortoise in our youth,
but then we understood the stories moral and truth…
That slow and steady… each minute is gone
Until, in not so very long, the race is won.
At the finish line, where loved ones wait…out of time…
The Clock will stop, inevitable and sure,
when the hare-swift Tic, is Toking no more.
I may be almost four foot long,
but you scare me a bit
I shall retract my neck and head into my shell
what are you doing in Galapagos anyway?
you do not look like our usual species
I am the oldest living land animal in the world
yes, I am reclusive, so please go away
I will live to be one hundred and fifty
if I am not disturbed
Hint Hint
The tortoise ran his race
far, far off the pace
While the speedy hare
zoomed from here to there
Yet when they tallied up the score
the tortoise had paused to help more
folks than the hare, who went too fast
missed his chance, and came in last
Tortoise looked, couldn't see, hare disappeared.
Only him, tortoise win, hare reappeared.
the sportsmanship that
honesty competes often
eludes the cheaters
The Word of Life is joy everlasting.
In the game of life, we win, lose, and die,
patterns reasoning; be glad we're living.
Living for the trice, losers don't comply,
trifles our distractions are ankle-deep.
Count on time won't add up you'll meet Grim Reap.
Speed misjudged its breaks; odds knew--widow's mite.
Live yond your means, who are your family.
A hard worker, big spender, works in spite,
Jones styles for their smiles, save one--their envy.
Live simple, live smart unlike ducks and drakes,
odds knew--widow's mite; speed misjudged its breaks.
The hare expected to win and the tortoise knew he would lose--too much and too little of themselves, until fate intervened.
One sat under the apple tree until an apple fell on its head, and the other was on top of that tree, simply going out on a limb.
The hare expected to win and the tortoise knew he would lose--too much and too little of themselves, until fate intervened.
One sat under the apple tree until an apple fell on its head, and the other was on top of that tree, simply going out on a limb.
L-Speed misjudged its breaks; odds knew--widow's mite.-a
E-Live yond your means, who are your family.-b
T-A hard worker, big spender, works in spite,-a
T-Jones styles for their smiles save one--their envy.b
E-Live simple, live smart unlike ducks and drakes,-c
R-odds knew--widow's mite; speed misjudged its breaks.-c
B-The Word of Life is joy everlasting-a
E-In the game of life, we win, lose, and die-b
T-patterns reasoning, be glad we're living-a
T-living for the trice, losers don't comply,-b
E-trifles our distractions are ankle-deep.-c
R-Count on time won't add up you'll meet Grim Reap.-c
the sportsmanship that
honesty competes often
eludes the cheaters
Tortoise looked, couldn't see, hare disappeared.
Only him, tortoise win, hare reappeared.
The tortoise walks slowly through sand
No rush, no needs to understand
All problems with humans around
Just a stop to look from a sound
Carrying curiosity....
with calm moving steps it can see
The world low to ground where it goes,
It only carries what it knows
As the sun beats down on its shell
It shows confidence all is well
Heidi Sands
8/8/24
*8 Syllables
(C)opyright
I am fifteen , carefree and in love. Our destination unknown ,
the mud beneath us tough.
A glisten caught my eye, amongst other tattered stuff.
You looked down at me smiling, pulling at your cuff.
A tortoise? he asks? as though such gift was not enough.
Its perfect, I plead and forever since the memory stuck.
The colours represent our story, ive held onto it as luck.
thirteen years have passed and yet , my keyring makes my face light up.
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