HEDGEHOG: NOTES ON DEATH

HEDGEHOG: NOTES ON DEATH

In the Ukraine, old people set out
saucers of milk for the hedegehogs
who repay them by eating garden bugs.
They say they do it because 
the hedgehogs bring them good luck.

In Great Britain and the Isle of Man
hedgehogs have achieved royal status.
There are hedgehog road crossings 
and tiny hedgehog hospitals 
for wounded Tiddilywinkles. 

When she was a child in Ireland, 
my grandmother loved to play with them.
She dragged them like puppies
around the farm of Coomb an Or.

When my grandmother lay close to dying, 
she complained of hedgehogs
loose in the living room—again.
With that, I wondered if dying 
was a bit like child's play.

7/22/12