Buddy the bad and Lily the Good
start out the day that way.
Bud scampers off to find something to chew
Lil stays put where I tell her to stay.

“It’s way too quiet,” I say to Lil,
Which means for sure that Bud’s up to no good.
A flop of Lil’s tail tells me she knows what I don’t,
Better find brother Bud; that’s understood.

No! I shout from two rooms away
Just before the laundry towel is in shreds.
No, not that! I shudder,
tugging paws, teeth and body from velour pillow
now christened where some have laid their heads.

No! I say sternly to Bud who looks back at me,
Without repentance for his latest bit of fun.
And there sits Lil as prim as can be,
“Mom, forgive him, for he knows not what he’s done.”