The Gulag Gopher

The gopher in the garden of the gulag

Where the inmates looked upon with envy,

For if only burrowing was their bag,

Free as the Gulag Gopher they too might then be.

Yes, like the gopher beneath the fence to dig,

So many inmates held onto this vision.

Past the barbed wire their dreams were big,

Till like the gopher, tunnels became the mission.

Such an inspiration was the Gulag Gopher,

Until almost a deity to be,

For to follow its path the inmates were sure,

The Gulag Gopher alone could set them free.

Until cult like the gopher’s following became

And if in the garden the inmates would see,

To the Gulag Gopher they’d kneel without shame,

Praying to their little furry deity.

But within that gulag garden’s poor crop,

It seems somehow deities and the underfed,

Well you can imagine when they got the drop,

How quick the Gulag Gopher became dinner instead.