Indeed, we had told Geoff,
the boldest hamster we knew,
not to burrow that direction
that the stories might be true
that there were endless networks
of claw-carved tunnels dug
by the adventurers of the by-gone ages
and that the labryinth of tunnels
was followed from above by a death ceiling
of a black inpenetrable dirt.
Gophers we knew personally had not returned
from under the black ceiling.
Geoff did not hear us.
He did not heed the warnings
as so many before him had not heard
or heeded.
He said he heard some echo of a calling
as of from Mt. Olympus or God
or Hades
calling him to the tunneled fields
to stake his claim in
the Annuls of the Gopher.