For hunger, Fox stalks,
The land she sniffs with snout
In search of something sweet.
The wood, the street, the field,
By dark she steals about
With twinkling magpie eye.
One night, when hunting unseen
A shining apple she spies;
Oh, beautiful red Fox.
“Sweet red delight,
You cleave and clasp too tight —
Loose thy grip!”, she barked.
No reply from Apple
Though he taunted on
The cool bouncing breeze.
Or so it appeared
To Fox, yip-yapping below,
Too short her hop to bite.
“Ha! Pitiful plum,
Forgotten fruit. None
Would have your sour sap,
Nor I, though I could.”
With barbs, Fox tore
Away, the apple unmoved.
January 2025
Based on Aesop’s Fable The Fox and the Grapes