Little Bunny Foo-foo

Last summer we found a baby bunny in our yard.
Adorable doesn't adequately describe it.
Our neighbor started feeding it little bits of lettuce.
He would set out leaves of Spinach or Romaine,
sometimes stalks of Celery or Carrots sticks.
Every morning the leavings would be gone.

We would stumble across it on occasion, hiding under the lilac bush.
Poor thing in a panicked and frozen state...
So still that even the dogs didn't notice it was hiding there.

It was fun to watch it getting bigger over the last months of Summer.
I always wondered where it's mama was.
It seemed too tiny to be all on its own.

When Autumn and then Winter came around,
I must admit that I forgot about it.
Until one day when the temperature was freezing
and the wind was blustery and the snow was flying.
Looking out the window at the snow coming down,
I saw it running, its ears flat back, over the frozen mounds of snow
While the shadow of the neighborhood hawk cruised over its head.

The next day while I was shoveling the driveway I see
a tiny little pile of what looks like coco puffs...Yep...bunny poops.
I have to tell you that I was thrilled to know that the hawk hadn't caught him.

I realize that Rabbits can do so much damage to plants and shrubs
But I was pulling for the little bugger to make it, to survive and thrive.

Last week I noticed a carcass on the road in front of our house.
I squinted through the window trying (hoping) to make out if it was a squirrel.
We have so many squirrels in our neighborhood and our road is so busy...
There is always a squirrel or two laying in the roadway.

But the fur was different. The shape was different. And I knew.
And it made me sad to think that it almost made it home.
It was 100 feet from it's little hidey-hole under the lilac bush.
So close to safety when a damned car took its life.
I was glad that at least the hawk hadn't taken it.

I watched as the city truck came along and scraped up
what was left of it and I have to tell you that I cried.
I cried over a silly little adorable bunny.

What's the moral to my story you ask?? I don't have one.
Easter is a few days away and there are cute pastel bunnies
and chocolate bunnies in every single store.
It feels like a constant reminder.

I want this story to have a happy ending.
I want there to be some sort of redemption.
But there isn't.
And I'm sorry that I told this story so close to Easter.