The little creature gleefully skips

And its fur tickles the ear

It lets out a giddy tune

Zooming through the dark tunnel 

And preparing for quite a journey

The tune shoots through the ear canal

The creature spins and pirouettes 

Tap, ta-tap, tap, ta-tap

The light footsteps vibrate

Throughout the space

Of where the brain sits.

The song repeats in his head.

It’s never ending

As it plays again and again 

The creature returns to the spacious tunnel once again,

Bouncing and skipping

And twirling and tripping

Tap, ta-tap, tap, plonk

It stands tall 

Growing in volume 

It heaves its body as it becomes louder 

thump, thump, THUMP, THUMP

The cilia that line the membrane fall flat

Like collapsed dominoes as they’re stepped on.

Only getting bigger and louder

As it steps deeper into the tunnel.

It’s a miracle that the ear can still hear

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP

The beat strong and loud to the ear

The kid can feel it in his heart

The hair cells are almost scorched 

So brittle that they might break off any moment

But some hairs stand strong, refusing to back down

As they feel the beats of the creature and listen 

They perceive the vibrations of the footsteps

All together harmoniously creating a work of art

The creature shrinks

Thumping turns to tiptoes

The remaining standing hairs let out a sigh of relief

For they feared they would soon collapse

The creature suddenly freezes and pops

A small pile of fur being the only thing left 

No new sounds are created anymore

But it’s already too late 

The footsteps are embedded into the brain

In the patterns of thumps, taps and

Do, re, mi’s

Echoes of the tune never end 

As it bounces off the little footprints

And although the creature has vanished

The music never quiets down.

It lives. 

The sound travels out of his mouth 

As a low hum 

The sound travels through his legs

And he taps his feet against the ground

Tap, tap, ta-tap, tap 

Then it travels to his hands holding the pencil 

And he taps the pencil against the cold desk 

Tap, tap, ta-tap, tap 

His body discreetly starts to wiggle 

He can’t stop.

He stands and moves 

In wiggles, waves, twirls, and shimmies

tap, ta-tap, tap, ta-tap

thump, thump, thump, thump

The creature flutters down to the floor

And beams with pride

Its work here is done. 

So after a long journey,

It prepares for another job.

The creature spins and pirouettes

To where its next target awaits.