The Rabbit and the Owl (Poetry Marathon 2022 – Hour 10)

Once upon a time
In a village for away
Lived a family of rabbits
Franklyn Jr. was the head of the household
He father Franklyn senior
Along with his wives
Lived with Jr.’s family
Jr had only one wife and was deeply in love
One day on his way to work
Jr thought he saw an owl flying overhead
Jr as one of the leaders of the community
Knew that the owls had made a treaty
With the local rabbit village
To stay out of the village
Jr was worried for his family’s safety.
The local rabbits had grown
Accustomed to the lack of predators,
And did not exercise as much as
There ancestors had.
Sr used to tell stories
Of how the rabbits
Would often race each other
As a way to learn how to avoid predators
Like owls and hawks.
Jr had a vision that if nothing was done
The owls would descend from the sky
And destroy the rabbit village.
He rang the alarm over and over
But all the other rabbits had grown complacent
With their stations in life.
One rabbit was so bold as to say
That after the tortoise had beaten the rabbit
In the famous race
And nothing bad happened
Well, nothing bad could happen.

Jr kept hearing the voice that told him
To learn how to run faster
So Jr, his wife and children
Would go out in the overgrown fields
And run as fast as they could for as long as they could.
But even Sr would not heed the call.
And Sr his wives and other children and grand children just laughed
At Jr and his family as they practiced everyday.
One night seemingly without warning
The owls attacked and ate all the rabbits in the village
Except Jr, his wife and their children.