Why do you stand on that shiny door of glass?
Come join us in this patch of cool green grass
Said friends of the ‘hopper who foolishly stood
Open, unguarded as ‘hoppers never should
Come, be among us, among your own kind
Hopping and hiding, are you out of your mind?
Who ever saw a hopper standing out in the sun
On a glass door, mind you, in view of everyone
From there you’re visible as food from all sides
Known enemies will eat you as an aside
Don’t be victim to anonymous claws
A flash will change you from an ‘is’ to ‘was’
The glass hopper stood its ground resolute
It spoke aloud from where it shouldn’t have stood
“Obviously, you things haven’t read the book
‘Alternate Lifestyles – A Critical Look’
The author, a ‘hopper, advises on style
In keeping with looking and feeling fine
It talks about fashion and organized space
And the safety and joy of swinging in space
I’ve spent time in places that smell amiss
And attract strange creatures and things that hiss
And ants with objectionable burial rites
And appear from nowhere to nibble your sides
So, erudite and apart the ‘hopper preened
On a shining glass standing tall in the green
Come, I invite you all to my new find
Then we’ll know who’s really out of their mind
His friends shrugged, slowly giving vent
How could they help one so intent
On being seen by evil bird or rodent
They sighed ‘some book’, as they went
A crow on a nearby branch did caw
The glass hopper pretended to ignore
Though he’d gone quite cold with fright
He appeared heroic in the glinting sunlight
But the crow looked at him and grimaced
Green things on glass were not to his taste
Besides the glass panes of nowadays
Slide open and shut in unexpected ways
A big fat rat looked up from the floor
It wasn’t going anywhere near that door
It smarted at how it made the tail sore
As it scuttled past just the day before
The ‘hopper was peeved by the facial display
Relief gave way as deep Insult took sway
The 'hopper fell prey to this quagmire of feelings
But sudden changes had started occurring
His platform, his pedestal, the glass door shook
And before you could shout ‘ohmyGod! Look’
The door smoothly slid apart with the hopper in its nook
The poor ‘hopper was jammed like a page in a book
Wedged between door and jamb
As the door slid shut instead of banged
It lay there in a troublesome mess
Causing the cleaner much distress
The other ‘hoppers looked on in surprise
Taken aback by the untimely demise
They checked the referred book – an original edition
Doors only swung shut when that book was written
They scoured later editions on the topic to find
That the anon author had in fact been so kind
As to strongly suggest that hoppers avoid
Doors that instead of swinging shut, slide
So, the intrepid hopper now late
Had chanced upon this unfortunate fate
By reading a book of style fact, not fiction
Hardbound, shining but of previous edition
