A woman picking peas encounters a snake in the grass.

Down at Goose Creek every year
Uncle Travis plants a pea patch.
Friends and relatives from near
and far harvest all they can snatch.

This year Travis has a fine crop
of black crowders, zipper creams,
and purple hull peas that won’t stop.
Travis picks peas in his dreams!

Aunt Margie has had to go weekly
to see the doctor this summer.
Rows went unhoed; grass got uniquely
tall between the pea plants…bummer!

The tall grass hides all sorts of creatures,
from mice and rats to various snakes,
making it hard to see their features --
a situation giving some people the shakes.

The heroine of our tale chose
this fine, hot July day to enter
Travis’s pea patch. She kept nose
to the ground, stayed in the row’s center.

The going was slow due to the thick
grass. She was wary of what might
be hidden from view. She’d be quick
to react; she was ready to fight.

Things went well at first. She began
to relax a bit. She had worked her way
half way down the row, with her plan
going fine. But then, things went astray.

“Snake!” shattered the calm, peas flying
overhead. She turned and fled as fast
as she could. ‘Was anything trying
to attack her?’ No, danger had passed.

So Suzy the snake was safe for today.
That scary human had run the other way.