“For thine is the kingdom,” I was praying
when distracted by the early bird
Rob-bob-bob-in bobbed down a neighbor’s drive
and offered a chipper tweet (cute!)
But then I saw the worm,
Writhing in fear, on the barren, concrete expanse.
Undulating. Rolling away madly for its meager worm life (futile!)
Peck, stabbed the robin
And the injured worm twisted, throbbed, folded
Peckpeck, stabbed the robin
And the pierced worm seemed to loose a silent wail
Peckpeckpeck, stabbed the robin
And the resigned worm surrendered, skewered on the beak
The bird gurgled and swallowed, and you could see the worm slither
down the rob-bob-bob-in-red throat.
Food.
(Was that a burp?)
Done, the early bird caught me looking and cocked its head
“I am what I am.”
Eric Nance Woehler
Madisonville
(reprinted from the 2014 Madisonville Community College Gadfly)