Amazing Holiday Paws

Climate Change on Groundhog Day

(February 2)

The second month began its second day

with Philly seeing light from morning’s glow;

he left his burrow’s entrance right away

and saw his shadow’s scary climatic show.

His shadow stretched too big in front of him

until it bumped against other shadows

that tumbled down from a tree’s storming limb

to smash into Philly’s sniffling nose.

The groundhog’s shadow itself did eject

away from Philly while weathering storms

and becoming scared to try to deflect

the darker shadows of tree and limb forms.

When Philly’s shadow slid its two front paws

within a tree’s shadow that wasn’t warm,

the shadowed paws lost the shape of their claws

in frozen shade that stretched out too far from the tree’s wooden form.

Then Philly’s shadow became super scared

and ran with Philly into his burrow

to hide from climate changes not repaired

and weather six more weeks of winter’s snow.

On one of that winter’s days, too quickly,

the snow did fall with temperatures warm;

even though still scared, the groundhog Philly

did peek outside to view a noisy storm.

The snow was heavier than in past storms

because the warm air was making wet snow

that moved with wind to make frozen forms

and slam an entrance to Philly’s burrow.

After too many weeks of winter’s snow,

a voice inside the humans’ house then said,

“Our electricity again did go!

I’ll run outside to cook our meat and bread!”

Another voice did say so soft and sweet:

“Our neighbors keep using fires to cook, too;

do you think we’re all adding too much heat,

so the climate’s becoming more askew?”

“One fire really cannot impact the world,

so we should just do what we have to do

to eat our food within our changing world

and let others do what they have to do!”

The end-of-winter fire did melt more snow,

resulting in water that kept flowing

into all the chambers of the burrow,

where Philly to his life and home did cling.

When spring appeared, the heat was stronger still.

With many yards flooded by too-much rain,

umbrellas were used for each outside grill,

so desires strong for heated food could reign.

Using his paws, Philly kept on digging

at water flooding into his burrow,

and experienced a thundering spring

with rain that rammed his mazing tunnels low.

A wave of heat then helped the water leave,

so plants could try to grow in dreadful soil

without nutrients to help them achieve

a life amid some fires that did them broil.

Most gardens withered due to burns from heat,

so Philly couldn’t find his preferred food,

but insects and roots were all he could eat

because nearby yards did just them include.

Then summer’s climate brought heaviest rain;

many storms of thundering noise and lights

did join each amiss-season hurricane

and make poor Philly swim for days and nights.

When Philly one day left his burrow to roam

and look for clover, dandelions, and grass;

he glanced up at the house above his home

to see people watching from windows’ glass.

The house atop Philly’s flooded burrow

was a small home for a family of four;

they often saw and smelled the smoke aglow

in each neighbor’s yard with a fireplace roar.

The people living dry within their house

above the burrow’s chambers and tunnels

talked to Philly like he was a large mouse

coping with changing climate’s water swells.

“Are you sad to see our climate changing

with smoke and higher degrees Fahrenheit?

Your heated burrow’s now water’s plaything

and seems to have an ocean’s rising height.”

“You’re the groundhog! Do your job correctly!

Don’t just predict the climate! Fix it, Phil!”

The groundhog thought his true name was Philly,

and the people were trying to make him ill.

Since Philly now was scared of the yelled words,

he whistled to warn other animals

to run away and hide from foolish nerds

who wrongly were talking like radicals.

He madly watched the people light a fire

in their yard’s fireplace, sprinkle some rain,

and create some heated wind with the fire,

followed by a level-six hurricane.

When fall arrived with storms and falling leaves,

more hurricanes appeared on land and sea;

the storms tore trees to fall down with their leaves

and damage the homes of people and Philly.

Many humans’ houses had losses small

with water rising, increased wind, and heat.

Philly’s home had damage to tunnels all,

no open exits, and no place to eat.

When stuck with watered mud in his burrow,

all Philly could do to breathe in some air

was to twist and turn the mud far below

to make it shift its space and let in air.

When Philly dug against a blocked exit,

after seven hours, he opened it up;

the grass and plants outside were still unfit

because fiery change had burned them up.

To look for some edible plants and grass,

Philly ran in yards that he didn’t know

‘til a fox in yards did also trespass;

then Philly ran back into his burrow.

People came out of their house by wind harmed,

looked at the three burrow holes remaining,

and stared at spots where plants used to be farmed;

these places now had not a living thing.

“Too many fires out here are bad for us,

and many others are suffering, too;

with not enough food for them and for us,

what else can people and animals do?”

“We can’t even buy any more coffee!

Too many forests are burned or flooded,

so the cost’s too high for coffee and tea!

Drinking just water is something I dread!”

“At least we always have water and bread,

and sometimes can buy other items for food;

in many countries, people are unfed

and would love to eat our bread barbecued.”