Rabbit Mittens

Old Missus Rabbit,
What do you do when
Winter comes?

Why we bundle up tight!
Snug & warm with our
warm fur muffs and our mittens.

But what do you eat,
you & your children
when the darkness is long?

Why we eat aspen & birch
& we nibble the bark
& we sleep in our nest & dream.

What do you dream of,
Missus Rabbit,
when the snow is thick?

All of us all, we dream
of Spring! Of tender
green shoots & running streams.

And when it has come,
the final Spring thaw,
what then?

Then we throw off our coats
& our socks & our muffs
& we hang our mittens to air in the sun.

Where do you hang them,
Good Mother Rabbit?
Have I seen them in the woods?

Yes, you have seen them
if you know where to look;
they are silvery bright & many.

Do you hang them on the fir trees
to dry on their
wide boughs?

No, no! Their needles
would stick in our paws!
We do not hang them there.

Do you hang them on the primrose
with thorns as clothespins?
Is that where I may find them?

No, no! My little rabbits
would be pricked by the thorns.
We hang them somewhere better.

Then tell me—
Where?

All of our mittens, every
silvery soft one
hangs on a branch of pussy willow.

And then Mrs Rabbit wiggled her nose & hopped off
to find her children
& Spring.