CEGONHA




STORK

flies into skies

no more to be seen

from earth



Dog

marks his presence

on ground -

prefers a trunk



Tree

never stops

trying to grow

into heaven



H Being

can do

less

than watch

Moon

is sometimes hanging

up there, shining

but not in all directions



Eye

never looks back

but sends its messages

in that direction



BIRD

isn't always stork

but knows

where to fly



DATE

Opened the door to the Men's Room

The pissoar stood alone

HARRY HAMSTER

It's not true that I am Harry. My name is Harry and I just happen to like everybody. Just everybody except maybe your big brother, since I do not know him. Maybe right now he's laying around pointing his gun at me. If he wants to use me as a target and shoot me, I do not like him.

I'm just a tiny hamster. Why shoot at me with a canon as if I were a sparrow? Why should anyone like me dead? Me, who happens to like everybody.

OK. We are not too many around here. We got a big elephant who is very friendly. But he spends most of his day sitting in the shallow water taking showers. That's easy for him to do. He's got a trunk. He enjoys spraying water at everybody. Also at me. That's why it is not too easy to have a talk with him.

Rare Rabbit calls the elephant The Phantom. Maybe because elephants look like they wear a black mask around their eyes. But Rare Rabbit maybe only says so because he doesn't like The Phantom laughing at him while he gives him a shower.

Then we got Sara Stork. She spends lots of time high up in the sky with her husband. He rarely touches the ground. Sara Stork told me he must feed their kids. It seems to be his job. They live up on top of a tower which is so high I cannot see the top itself. I don't to climb it. Think if a there suddenly was a real strong wind coming.

Somewhere under these roots lives a little mouse. She refuses to tell anyone exactly where. I'm not sure exactly where I was born either.

Everybody knows the fox. But that is a lie. None of us did ever say hello to Foxteeth. That's what we call her. I don't know her real name. They say you never return from those teeth. Somebody instructed me to stay away from her.

Rare Rabbit says the same. He's jumping around. I catch sight of his round tail now and then. I don't know what Gaffe Giraffe says about the fox. Gaffe keeps her head so high up in the sky to hear what she mumbles.

I also have a pal down by the river. Maybe I should say in the river. He spends most of his time bathing. Maybe it's a good thing. He's so enormous the grass withers where his feet leave their tracks. When he makes a round on the ground Sara Storks calls him Hippo, but I never saw her riding on his back.

I also know Snoppy Snake. He's got fluorescent lights on his back. He's a very good whistler and repeats time and again a story about three goats and a troll. But I've never seen a troll. They may not exist. I'm not sure if Snoppy speaks the truth. But as long as he's not hungry I like him anyway.

I even like the fox. She's beautiful in her shining fur. But I was taught to keep away from her Foxjaws.

Then we got the Milkmaid. She turns up every Thursday and chases me thru the bushes with a big shiny bucket in her hand. She looks kind. But must be a bit crazy.

...

I just fell asleep when Milkmaid pinched my tail. I make enough sudden heartbreaking noises to give Milkmaid a start. She looses her grip. I try to hide in the bushes. But Milkmaid has found out my hiding places. Wherever I try to hide she throws in her fingers to catch my tail. And I'm too drowsy to try to make a runaway.

I don't like nobody to drag my tail. It hurts. Milkmaid is not only huge. She's got an awfully fast left hand. Her right hand is holding the handle of her bucket. She uses her left hand to try to catch me.

I can be fast too. I figure out I must make a counterattack. Not slow at all. I make a jump and hide under her heavy skirt. I scratch her lightly on her leg. To make her realize where I disappeared.

t makes her terrified when she realize where I disappeared. She throws her milk bucket into the bushes and starts running away. "I'm only here to get milk. That's my job," she shouts.

There's one thing I don't understand. It is true that I like everybody. But must all milkmaids believe that I'm a cow? Do you have to be a cow just because you like everybody?