Equal Differences

by Ronald Miller

There is an old story
That I would like to tell
About a sea lion named Rusty
And a squirrel named Rochelle

It began on the playground
So many years ago
When the air was chilly
And the ground frosted with snow

Rochelle sat under a tree
And watched the other kids play
They just don’t understand
To herself she would say

Why do they ignore me
Why don’t I fit in?
Why can’t they see further
Than the color of my skin

But they did see Rochelle
They would point and whisper
And make jokes to each other
About the color of her fur

It was purple, in fact
A purple squirrel was she
Bundled up by herself
Sitting under a tree

Never before in her life
Had she felt more alone
Than this moment in time
On her sad snowy throne

But little did she know
There was another like she
Another lonely animal
A sea lion named Rusty

Rusty too had no friends
Sadly no friends at all
And all for one reason
He couldn’t balance a ball

It was common those days
For sea lions like him
To be balancing beach balls
On the tip of their brim

Rusty would practice and practice
All hours of the night
But somehow never managed
To ever get it right

A failure he was
A sad lonely dud
For balancing a ball
Should’ve been in his blood

Through fate it may seem
That these two would meet
Catching eyes with each other
That night on the street

They both smiled real big
Neither feeling any dread
And they approached one another
With no words being said

They could see in their eyes
A glimmer of light
For the sadness they shared
Would be gone by that night

Rusty and Rochelle were unique
Others similar, never found
So they put their talents together
And travelled around

The crowds would amass
To behold the site
Of a purple squirrel dancing on the nose of a sea lion
Just right

They toured around the world
No longer alone
And they bathed in the warmth
Of their new golden throne

The squirrel loved the sea lion
And the sea lion too the squirrel
A lifetime they would share together
A love never to unfurl

This work belongs to Ronald J. Miller. It is a work in progress by author and is subject to change.

The author lives in New York, USA.

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