Cellar

Time to put the canning away
Snug on wooden shelves
Safe in the cool dark
Earthen walls rounded gently
The occasional root and worm waving hello
Everything perfectly normal
In it's normally perfect way
In the dark cool comfort
Of my cellar

But halfway through my chore
With all the jars on the shelves
While I pondered relabeling and more
There came a scuffing and a clunking
A huffing and a grunting
From beneath the boards of my cellar floor

I jumped back with a start
Snuffed out my light
And stared hard in the dark
Towards the sound
Which sounded like the breaking of wood
Coming from my cellar floor

Slowly little rays of light appeared in the dark
As the boards gave way
To what was picking at them from below
I held my breath waiting to see
What was going to pop up
Like a horror movie jack in the box
From the floor right in front of me

Turns out it was a hobbit
Or a dwarf
I'll say, "A gentleman of small stature"
And leave it at that
But he did look like something out of a movie
What with his beard and hard hat
His overalls and pick axe

He was a real sub cellar dwellar he was
Dirt on his face
Eyes darting all over the place
Like he didn't trust this rarified altitude
I almost felt bad until he swore quite rude
But it was because he saw me
So I kept my mouth shut
The sharp pick axe may not tolerate a rebuke

Our eyes met for a full thirty seconds
And just when i'd decided I should say hello
He jumped back down his hole without a farewell
Leaving me flummoxed and flustered
Peering at where he disappeared
Now already filled in behind him
Leaving me with nothing

Except an empty cellar
A torn up floor
And scratching my head