Nature Sonnet

Pa said a skunk had took up his abode

     Beneath the barn where he has been and dug

     A hole for winter use, all nice and snug,

Close to the chicken house, but he’d be blowed

If he would have a skunk this side the road.

     So pa he set a trap, but Mr. Skunk,

     For all pa’s cleverness, staid in his bunk,

And day or night himself he never showed.

My! Pa was mad. He raised the floor one day

     And shoved a pole and hook away down deep

And says, “I’ll get that pole cat anyway!”

     He did, and in the corn house had to sleep.

Pa says a skunk beneath the barn is worth

Two any other place upon the earth!

Jan. 6, 1917