I see the neighborhood squirrel
and he sees me.

I think he knows me by sight,
but he runs away from me.

Perhaps he’s studied my kind
and knows many of us

cannot be trusted and will stab
another in the back to get ahead

or out of petty meanness will do
the same unexpectedly.

I’d say that makes the squirrel
better than many of us, and if I

got to know him, I’d probably find
him more noble than most of us.

Bob Boyd