The Snail

      Some years ago I came home one day and spotted a snail at the bottom of the garage door, at the start of what turned out to be quite a long climb upwards, a number of weeks in fact. I was reminded of the spider (Robert the Bruce and all that) and wondered how long our snail would take to reach the top or make it at all. What happened in the end….who knows?

The Snail    

There’s a snail lives on our garage door

It’s been there for a while

And now and then when I go by

I swear I’ve seen it smile

By now it’s climbed up fairly high

I don’t know where it’s going

Perhaps it’s reaching for the sky

Aspirations growing

The climb so far is quite a feat

‘cos Snail is rather small

It took him much more time to reach

Than someone twice as tall

I hope it’s worth the effort

I pray it’ll reach it’s goal

If it were to fall right now

It may destroy it’s soul

I wonder when it set out

Did it realise the task

Did it see it as a challenge

And did it take a flask

I hope it was prepared

To spend all day up there

And when it turned into a week

Did it fill him with despair

And how’s it gonna feel now

As May turns into June

I hope it doesn’t give up

Doesn’t change it’s tune

I think I’ll keep an eye on it

Make sure that it’s ok

We all need a “guardian angel”

To see us on our way

And if the worse should happen

And it should disappear

Fall victim to a passing bird

I know I’ll shed a tear

             ©O’Hagan    2ndJune’11