Tiny Strength

Today, as the sun was beginning to set behind the tree line of the forest behind my house, I sat at my computer, looking out the window and watching the daily trundeling of the turkeys as they went to roost back in the woods somewhere. A woodpecker came out of the tree and pecked at some suet I keep in a suet feeder, and a few other birds got a last minute nibble of seed from the feeder. My eye caught something moving in an odd fashion, it looked like a cogwheel without a cog, a leaf running with the evening breeze? Wait, as this whirling dirvish moved toward my bird feeder, my eyes behold a tiny little squirrel. This little guy was dragging his little back end with gusto, his tail was no longer bushy but a sad little train that he pulled behind him. I was intrigued. He ate what little seed had fallen from the bird feeder. Three sparrows fly down and keep this little braveheart company. The sun is setting further down and I begin to worry about Owls, Hawks, Fishers, and other predators that can out distance this little guy. I go outside with a dish of seed, hoping he'll run off in his hobbled scurry. He runs under the shed, and out to the woods where I can see he has fashioned a home in a felled tree. I put the seed at the edge of the shed so he can safely nibble if he gets hungry.. my thought was about his safety, what a brave little creature, we could all learn a lesson from this grey little squirrel. Don't know why I wrote this, but watching this little creature survive like this, was profound... there are so many profound things all around us, yes?