(or, The Menagerie pt. 3)

 

It started with a cornsnake

named for a park back in Ashland

who escaped his collapsed tank and

vanished into the unknown.

Quite a few nights were spent lining the kitchen walls with flour

In hopes of finding a trace of Lythian,

Though no hint of him dead or living ever surfaced

 

The reptile life nabbed me quickly,

One moment pondering the archaic looking creature once labeled extinct

The next, I’m rearranging tank space with what little I have to spare.

 

Cornsnake, crestie, and python to start,

And then the dragons: the desert oranges my father brough home,

And the water lizard, Orchid green and just as fragile from the home

He’d been neglected at beforehand.

 

The leos top the reptiles off, with Blaze playing Mama hen;

She and Sundew spend their days piled atop each other,

In patient wait for little Ruby White to get large enough to join them.

 

Speaking of which, does anyone have any large tanks available?

 

(Hour 13)