The turtle to the gerbil said
"My dearest friend you'll soon be dead
For all you ever do is run
Around that wheel as if for fun."
"Oh no my friend you are mistaken,
You sooner by death will be taken
For you don't ever exercise
And every lazy creature dies.
While able sportsmen like myself
Go on to fill the trophy shelf
With cups and medals fairly won,
And that is why I love to run
In daily training on my wheel."
The turtle gently dragged his heel
Along the bottom of his tank,
Then he down through the water sank.
This gerbil was the third he'd known,
Yet he stayed idle as a bone
For though he lived in lethargy
Not one had lived as long as he.
This Poem was inspired by Vikram Seth's "The Elephant and Tragonpan and is basically me playing with a new meter: Iambic Tetrameter couplets.