Member Poem

There was a little pig
built his house of bricks
because he thought others stupid
for building with straw and sticks.
 
“That won’t keep the wolf out
when he comes to call.
He will blow your house down,
he’ll eat you bones and all.
 
He’s vicious and he’s mean,
you would even say he’s cruel.
He’ll fry you up with toast and eggs
and eat you with his gruel.”
 
The others, they just laughed and played,
and went their merry way.
They built their homes the way they liked,
and good advice held no sway.
 
Then, one day, the wolf came by
and knocked upon their doors,
and said the words we know so well
as the pigs lay huddled on their floors.
 
“Little pigs, little pigs,
let me come in.”
“Not by the hairs
on our chinny chin chins.”
 
And the wolf huffed and puffed,
he blew their houses down.
Out the back door they all went squealing
where Brother Pig lived safe and sound.
 
“Brother Pig, Brother Pig
You win, you win!
You were right, we were wrong,
please let us come within!”
 
So Brother Pig unlocked his door,
smiling all the while.
Of course he was right, he knew it all along,
he’d seen this coming for a mile.
 
And there they all stayed
while the wolf made his rounds.
They heard the sound of his huffing breath
like a tornado hitting the ground.
 
Then a knock came on the door,
and they knew the wolf was there.
But Brother Pig was ready,
he knew he had to beware.
 
“Little Pig, Little Pig
let me come in!”
“Go back where you came from, Wolf,
Before a hunter comes for your skin!”
 
“No. Please listen…
you don’t understand.
My wife and children are starving,
Back in my homeland.
 
All I’m asking for
Is just a little grace.
A loaf of bread, or an extra blanket
that I can take back to my place.”
 
But Brother Pig was not fooled.
He turned the wolf away.
He kept the door locked up tight,
Until the sun rose the very next day.
 
He ventured out to see the town,
To make sure things were alright.
But there in his path along the way
was the wolf, who had died in the night.
 
Brother Pig looked him over
but what he saw brought tears to his eye.
Ragged fur with patches thinned,
glazed eyes looking up at the sky.
 
He held a picture in his paw
of the ones he held so dear.
There was nothing vicious in their smiles.
Suddenly, it was all so clear.
 
“How could I be so wrong?
How could I be so blind.
I let fear rule my heart,
I let it rule my mind.
 
I didn’t see the truth
that lay beyond my nose.
I didn’t have compassion
for the least of those.”
 
So, let this be a lesson to us,
we who sit behind brick walls-
You never know if that knock on the door
 is love’s opportunity making its calls.

* First published February 2015 on my personal blog: http://lunaticpoet.com/who-really-was-the-wolf/