Maggie-Dog & Zach-Rabbit Poem by John Carter Brown

Hello there, my name is Maggie-dog
And right from the start let me say
That the family have gone to the lakeside,
And most likely will be out all day.

Zach-rabbit is o'er in the corner
His cage is left open I see,
He's stood at a sideways angle
But I know that he's looking at me.

I hope he remembers the last time
We two had been left out, and loose,
And the stand-off for house domination,
That was left at an uneasy truce.

Now Zach was here long before I was,
By many a year, this is true,
But I still think that I should be ruler
And he, at the back of the queue.

I'm biggest, but Zach is more crafty
And I can see through his disguise,
As he sits, very still, in his corner,
One ear flopped over both eyes.

I strut very slowly 'longside him
He turns and we're now face to face,
He grunts, and I growl into action,
And all round the room we now race.

My size is a great disadvantage,
Where Zach goes I can't always follow,
He's quick, and he knows I can't catch him,
And my pride is not easy to swallow.

So I stop to consider my options
This chasing is too much for me,
I need a new plan of attack and,
I'm wondering just what it should be.

I'm starting to think like a shepherd,
Of rounding Zach up like a sheep,
Of herding him into a corner,
Then waiting until he's asleep.

So I lay on the floor and pretend that
I really don't care any more,
Then I move to the left, which should force him
To edge himself nearer the door.

This doesn't work out though, he's crafty,
And smarter than most, for his age,
He then makes a dash o'er the carpet
To the sanctuary of his cage.

I can't get him in there, and he knows it,
I'm frustrated, but just need to wait,
And if I had done that in the first place,
I wouldn't have got into this state.

(Written Dec 2013)