The custom works for Northern folks,
who know the woodchuck's role.
But in the South we'll never coax
a groundhog from its hole.

Perhaps we should not see our fates
in mammals' endothermic say,
but better ask invertebrates
more tied to nature's shifting way.

If a grub mistakes the temperature,
not knowing freeze from thaw,
it will not manage to mature.
This is a fatal flaw!

To actually survive at all,
they aptly read the skies.
From minute larvae in a gall
to ticks and bugs and flies.

So while the expert marmot states
clouds mean that spring is near,
insects postpone their search for mates
'til the coast is REALLY clear.

All the people in the South,
where groundhogs do not live,
have learned to trust, by word of mouth,
the clues that insects give.

Flea season heralds summer's hold.
Fall starts when crickets say;
but the REAL end of winter's cold
begins with Chigger Day!