I read of a challenge to write something in a flash. I hadn't written poetry in awhile so I thought I might give it a shot. The challenge was to use, bats, cats, and rats. It was a sort of challenge for Halloween. Instead of creatures crawling up a pant leg or down a collar and scaring us, I thought about Aesop and how he used animal traits to point out problems or to lend courage to the mortal world. I thought why not? All that can happen is that they will like and choose some other person's submission, but on the chance they are looking for something different... this is as different as one can get, not the usual Halloween fare.

Aesop Speaks Through Cats, Rats and Bats

Aesop writes his famous fables. He writes his morals clear.

On a more virtuous path he attempts to help us steer

He uses men and animals intentions to convey

To animate these sayings and animals to portray

He uses some of the lowly creatures like snakes and frogs

Animals like ants, grasshoppers, fish, pigs, and even dogs

To explain these morals he includes crows and mice and cats

Morals easy for people to see in bulls and bats

Wolves, deer, eagles, foxes and other creatures tame and wild

Wander through his stories written to educate a child

Monkeys, asses, goats, lambs, camels scamper across his pages

Using common beasts, he lures the common man and sages

If on a cold October night you need something to read

 Aesop can be scary for an immoral world to read.