To think that a squeek,
A simple noise in the woods
Would pull my mind
Away from the stock market
Would alert my mind
Like an old blood hound
As I sat up and listened
For two chipmunks
Chirping, squeeking, calling
Singing love songs
Across an old dirt road.
My mind fell away
From the woes of Wall Street
As my feet wandered
To the edge of the road
I listened and stepped
One slow step at a time
Seeking the source
On my side of the road
Softly, gently, one foot
Then the other
Along the grasses
Stepping over leaves
And twigs that might
Crackle and pop.
Like a mythical hunter
I rose to the occasion
Searched for the source
Till I saw a tail, striped
Slide into a hole
Left by a woodpecker
In a fallen pine.
Then, as I slipped closer
The chipmunk turned
Sat still watching
Me watching him.
For an eternity
We watched,
Waited,
Still and silent
Each in our own
World paused.
My vision blurred
And saw nothing
But a hole in a log
Filled with the tiny face
Of this chipmunk
That pulled my mind
From losses and bailouts.
The loud chirps
Bigger than this creature
Should be making
Brought me home
To these hills,
To the world
Back to what really matters.
And I wonder
When is the last time
A Wall Street Wonder
A President, Advisor,
Prime Minister, Senator
Big Three mogul
Stopped to listen
To a tiny
Call of the Wild?
Then I wonder
If the world might
Be better
If they did.
