In the land of Foy,
Deep in the dessert lives a strange little boy.
He is the only of the Jitter Creatures that is calm.
The others tease him incessantly with their taunting song:
“There lives Guan,
“The silliest of everyone.
“He sits all day with his nose in a book,
“With a contemplative serious look,
“He tries to quiet his jingle bells,
“And he has a large collection of little sea shells.
“Oh what a strange fellow is he.
“Who wishes he is human, surely!
“La la la la la la, Guan is strange indeed,
“La la la la la la, Guan will never lead!”
Guan watches his fellow Jitters as they dance,
And as they jingle their bright orange bell feet and rattle the pockets in their pants.
He wonders about their large black eyes
And spindly fingers as each tries
To move through the day
In the fastest of ways
Shaking their large orange heads
Jumping on their steel frame beds
Climbing up the large grey rocks
And stealing human children’s socks.
They never sit long enough to hear a statement all the way through.
They speak in fragments and look like they never quite know what to do.
Guan thought that all other Jitters must be the silliest creatures anyone has ever seen,
As they run amok and cause havoc by rummaging through everything.
Guan never understood why his body was bigger,
Why his eyes were smaller and his body was more of a bulbous figure.
Guan didn’t understand why he had no desire to run,
To talk fast or engage in other activities the Jitter clan considered fun.
Guan’s best friend of all was a snail!
They both shared their love and their time trying to collect the most beautiful seashell!
What Guan didn’t know,
Was that he was destined for greatness and world travel.
Guan was destined to be a great philosopher of his time.
And while other Jitters all died young, Guan would live well past his prime.
Valerie Carsey 