Pack Rat- A Gatherer of Treasure

‘Pack Rat’
~Byrd Baylor~

I run to
whatever
is shiny,
find out about
anything
new.

I sniff
a gleaming mica chip
a feather that falls
from the sky,
a pale blue turquoise bead,
a button,
the top of an old tin can,
and the pipe
that a miner
smoked by his campfire
and left on the ground
while she slept.

I take it all.

I am a gatherer of treasure . . .
of leaves
and berries and roots,
mesquite beans,
sweet red summer cactus fruit,
and a piece of a clear glass bottle
turned purple by the sun.

I stay
close to home,
close to the trails I know,
close to the rocks where I was born,
close to the cholla cactus
I climb so easily.

Everything I want
is here.

In the cool evenings
I search,
darting from rock to rock,
out of sight of coyotes and owls.

I run back and forth
with my mouth full of treasures.

I go home at sunrise,
pushing
and pulling
and rolling
all the good things
back to my nest,
my pile of sticks and dirt
and cholla cactus thorns.

It holds me safe.
It hides my shining secrets
in the dust.

This is a pack-rat in an oak tree. Usually I never get a good look at one, they are such a quick blur running through the brush, that when I see them out of the corner of my eye and turn to them, they are already hidden away in the foliage.  They usually stay on the ground also. I think this guy might have been chased into the tree by one of our cats. This tree is right in front of our house. My brother was visiting from North Carolina and saw it first… he saw the tail hanging down and thought it might be a possum….

This is a Packrat nest. They are a collection of twigs arranged on the ground under the oak trees. They quite often are built around a small tree for support. The twigs seem to be arranged something like a thatch roof, directing water away from the nest, keeping the little family dry, warm and cozy inside.

  Packrats are very clean little animals. There is nothing messy, or creepy about them when you get to see them up close.  But they are fast movers.

    There is such a diversity of animals and plant life all over, the opportunities for learning are profound. To let the world pass before you without note is a shame, yet you cannot possess it. The world is for us to use not abuse, to steward, not to own.  It is a trust gifted to us, and we are called to take care of all we are given to safeguard.