It is probably well known

            To most of you

            That the cheetah

            Is the fastest animal on land

 

            It may, however, come as a surprise

            To learn that it can also be

 

            Still as a statue

            Silent as a penitent

            Stealthy as a lawyer or

            Slow as molasses

            In pursuit,

            Depending on the prey

 

            If I were he – or she –

            I’d lick my chops and lie in wait

            To show that I was built

            For so much more than speed

 

            And if I really cared a whisker

            I might wonder,

            Having set the record straight

            While gnawing on a bone,

 

            If you preferred to be remembered

            Merely by a part –

 

            And not the whole