We’ve all had that weasel on our backs at one time or another

but perhaps we haven’t dealt with it as gracefully

as a Woodpecker in flight.

This predator senses opportunity and attacks for gain

by offering only a platitude and the empty smile

and nothing else in return.

Whereas the badger, noble creature of the forest floor, set in its ways

and looking for all the world as a master of ethnic equality, sees the situation

in black and white and fights back against the weasel, but will probably