A rush of blood

A squirrel that one day
           I saw shoot up a tree
right to the very top
           way in the distance

and I wondered
           what had driven it
to run so fast
           as though its life
depended on it
           and maybe it did

but there were
           no predators around
as far as I could see
           so it must have been
sheer exuberance
           a rush of adrenaline

surging through its limbs
           but having reached
the very top
           there was nowhere
left for it to go
           but down

John Lyons