Taxonomy

A hamster is not a gerbil,
‘Though a tortoise is a turtle.
Mosquitoes are what you swat at -
Hundred twelve genera for that.

If you want to classify,
Taxonomy is what you try.
You compare for what is the same
And then give them a Species name.

But now the fun has just begun --
Two's too different to be one.
They aren’t the same but share sameness;
Let us give them the same Genus.

The Genera with common traits
In a Family can be mates.
Families in the same border
Can be placed in the same Order.

The Orders can combine en masse
To make a very diverse Class.
We almost there to compile a
Joining of Classes into Phyla.

The last step is the mighty Kingdom
Under which the broad Phyla come.
Some add in sub- and super- levels --
Let’s ignore hair-splitting devils.

Ennui

(tune: Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis)

Wrap me up in weary ennui,
From out of nowhere.
Don’t tell me the world’s still shining.
I no longer care.
It seems I’ve done more than enough,
To go repeating that old stuff.
So cover me with dull ennui,
And I’ll snuggle there.

Wrap me up in weary ennui,
I am fine, I swear.
Within myself I’m unwinding
From nothing out there.
So much has passed hurly burly
And it all stopped way too early,
So I need time of listless ennui
To rise fresh somewhere.

Atrophy

Atrophy is not a prize you can win,
Although it is easy to compete in.
You just give up something you once did use,
And soon enough find it something to lose.

A muscle, a mind, or any old skill,
Can weaken and fade if too long too still.
One thing to not vanish like a rabbit,
Seems to me, is an old and bad habit.

Idling Hard

Things not worth doing may be worth not doing well;
When you are doing nothing, your best will not do.
From career you retire in idleness to dwell
Unless you find former nothings to amuse you.

Work is a labor, perhaps a burden to bear,
And yet a purpose and a process to move us.
We wish relief from exertion in our soft chair,
Until endless rest changes it to immobile truss.

Then we must idle hard to recapture what’s lost;
Do to be doing and fighting not to be done.
I need not be better than Seuss, Whitman, or Frost,
As long as I can fill the hours and still have fun.