NaPM April 19, 2017

[dukealien]

Pigs


One dark fall years ago
(when woods were my back yard)
a cute pink pig appeared
on my driveway’s other side.
Storybook-clean and tiny
she stood, innocent
pig a city kid expects
to live in little houses
and wear clothes
(which she did not).

Then up beside her leapt
her miniature boar
about twelve inches at the shoulder
gray, hairy and pot-bellied
with white tusks as big
as carpet tacks.  Bold he stood
body shielding his pink lady
snout dipped warningly in my direction
pawing pavement
as if his tiny trotter
would strike sparks.

I stepped back, not wishing
my ankles gored or snouted.
Mini-boar eyed me suspiciously
then, reassured, nudged his lady.
Round they turned and trotted
four small hams twinkling
into underbrush, two pink, two grey.

I never did see them again
but wonder now
what was their future
and their history?
Which was an escaped pet
or both?  Did one help or tempt
the other to run wild
or were both abandoned?
Were they big enough
to fend off feral cats
and great-horned owls?
Did they raise a family
live in a little house
of bricks, whose owner
learned to shave
and wear overalls?
No, stop.

They were the only pigs
I’ve met personally;
I feel as if we’ve spoken.