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| | The Brave Little Turtle"The time has come!" The turtle said,
"To set out on my own.
To travel far and to escape
These winds by which I'm blown.
The time has come to spread my wings,
To taste unfettered air;
To see what is beyond the fence
And seek my fortune there!
So off he set, and he swam strong,
Right to the very top.
Then up he climbed and sat
Upon a lonesome rock.
Here he paused to look around,
To eye the situation,
To dream of dangers and adventures
He would find across the nation.
He closed his eye to gather strength;
He took one long, slow breath;
He raised his head above his shell
And out one leg did stretch.
He stretched his leg and stretched his claws,
Reached into the unknown -
He would not stop, he did not fear,
He made his destiny his own.
His claws did catch, his courage boost,
He climbed with renewed spirit.
Fortune smiled from above,
He felt that he was near it.
He climbed and slid and climbed and slid
And climbed until he found
A ledge to hold his front two feet -
The world made not a sound.
The world made not a sound, they say,
As the turtle paused again:
Then up he heaved, his tail did leave
The earth, prefering heaven.
For a moment he perched on top of the world.
For a moment he hadn't a care.
Then over he toppled and down he plunged
Into th'unfettered air.
The fall was long, the landing jarred,
But he was satisfied -
He walked about this great new earth
Until an edge he spied.
Then again, without hesitation,
He lowered his head and fell:
His length times ten, this fall did measure,
It must have seemed like hell.
But somehow he survived to find
A dark and cozy place,
An unknown corner of the world
Where he'd be free and safe.
He settled down and snuggled in,
He loved his newfound home.
He slept well, dreaming that soon
He'd wake again to roam.
But as he slept his fortune failed,
Down reached the hand of Fate.
She clamped down on him, picked him up,
And plopped him back into a tank.
Once again, my friends, the turtle found
His body captivated.
He swam in anger, refused to eat,
For his Fate he hated.
Long days he spent in such a state,
Long nights were slow to pass,
As his fears rose up as walls
Topped by a sky of glass.
For years, it seemed, he lived like this,
You'd think he might have learned
To settle down, accept this Fate,
But within him Freedom burned.
Each chance he got he wandered off,
Sometimes he'd invent a chance,
And each time Fate would bring him back;
It was an awful dance.
Each time he could he'd wander off.
Though hope began to fail,
Each time he ran he'd taste the air
And hear Adventure hail.
One day he sat, imprisoned still,
(Yet Fate seemed not at home)
By habit he eyed the obsticles,
And he began to roam.
Off he waded through the grass,
It seemed an endless sea.
Through hopeless state he thought aloud,
"Persistence is the key."
His head was up, his eye was clear,
With strength his legs did heave
His body through the fence of Fate,
Captivity he did leave.
The point of this little tale, my friends,
Is that on one soft, sad day
I left my home for one short hour,
And my turtle ran away.
| | | Posted 6/17/2007 3:19 PM - 36 views - 6 comments
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