Ode to Squirrel

Small fluffy one
who scampers in the sun
I pay homage to you

Your zippy ways
your carefree days
my friend, you’re never blue

You shuck your nut
as you swish somewhat,
your bushy little tail

O king of the tree
you’re feral and free
hunting nuts on the mountain trail

You’re frantic, yet wise
your blank stare a disguise
Dear sir, you deserve some praise

You’re majestic, and it’s no lie
your song I’ll sing till the day I die!
My nutty Brother, I honor your ways

Poem by SuperFly Squirrel

I have very sad news. It’s about squirrel.

Squirrel was with me in my circles almost every morning since I came to Montana.

He was so tame and kept so still watching me, stopping his business when I was praying. He listened and only commented appropriately.

Spirit told me it was time to leave Montana. The circle went out and away. I was told to go. I went to Seattle, but then I came back.

Like a homing pigeon, I am always drawn towards whatever feels the most like home in my life. And this place was still home to me. And most people would look at the left brain fact that a lease remained and new tenants had not been found.

So really I had good reason to come back. But Spirit doesn’t always listen to reason. Spirit told me to go. It told me it was time.

I hung around. I was going through my stuff. I was picking through what I wanted to keep, what would realistically fit in my car and what I needed to give away.

And I met with friends. I went to a Fourth of July Birthday party for a friend of mine. He was just a friend, and it was his birthday. I enjoyed the fireworks over the Montana mountains and as I said good night and thank you for the dinner and festivities, Spirit told me to invite him home with me.

And I argued. He was a ‘just a friend’ kind of friend to me, and I had no desire to cross that line. Why oh why would I ask him to come home with me?

But Spirit persisted. “He’ll understand,” my guides said. But I ignored them. I was ignoring my guides telling me it was time to leave Montana, and I was ignoring them telling me to invite this man home with me.

And when I got home, I felt uneasy. I was alone in my space, but it didn’t feel like just my space anymore. It felt like someone else was watching me.

I stayed up late and wished I had asked my friend over. We could have just talked all night. And since he believed in my intuitive gifts, he probably would have honored what I told him my guides said. He might have understood I just needed a man present that night to protect me.

At four in the morning I turned out my lights, reluctantly. I tossed and turned for a half hour, and then a bright light was shining in my face through my bedroom window.

I let out a blood letting scream and the light went out.

I called 911.

Someone had been in the outbuildings, possibly for sometime. The sheriff checked out the property and we saw signs someone had been there. Someone had been watching me that night, I had felt it.

I understood why Spirit told me to invite my friend over. I suddenly understood why Spirit kept telling me it was time to leave. I agreed and I started packing. Fast and furious I was going to be gone before the next nightfall.

The next morning, after very little sleep, I threw the last of my things into the trunk of my car.

Before I headed down the road, I went to the place where I had prayed each morning. I wanted to connect one more time with the place that had helped me to become more centered.

I stood outside the circle looking at the place where I had stood each morning. I looked into the middle of my sacred circle and there was my squirrel friend.

Sometime during the night he must have died. There had been some lightning the night prior, and it looked like he took a hit from the tree just above. He had been burned and his tiny body landed directly in the circle.

It was over. This was the final sign, and it could not have been more clear. It was a painful reminder of death, of death as a part of the sacred circle. It was a reminder to let go and to go on.

And I wondered if my hesitation had contributed to the loss of my friend’s life.

I made an offering and said prayers over his sweet form.

I cried one more time before I left Montana.

With me I bring the wisdom and memory of the company of Squirrel.