mongoose (a mele for my keikes)

A mongoose slinks and darts away
As if at hide and seek he plays;
He sneaks across the carpet green.
His hope?  That he will not be seen.
What causes such timidity?
Who does he fear?  Could it be me?
Does he dread his own compulsions
Or fear causing vile revulsions?
No matter wherefores or the whys
He skitter-scatters, runs and hides,
Since everybody wants him gone,
Of course he skulks across the lawn!

Liz McFadzean

I was on vacation with my family—our children and grandchildren.  In Hawaii little ones are called keikes.  And a poem or a song is a mele. 

One day on a walk I observed this very shy mongoose.  I didn’t know that there were mongoose on the Hawaiian islands.  And, in fact, there weren’t until some plantation owner imported them to keep rats out of the pineapples plantations.  As with most ideas that seem inspired, there were unintended consequences, and now the mongoose is considered an invasive species.  Watching this one stealing shyly across the grass, I thought I would write a mele for my little keikes.