Monday, April 16, 2012

The Buzz


The will to kill sleeps lightly.
Mine startled from the deep
by a fat little fly.
Not by the bug itself, 
not by its hive of eyes
or six furry legs that double
as a tongue and taste my arm 
when they land on it.
But by the whirr of its wings 
Flapping
Hundreds of times each second --
I can’t think!
Oh that horrific hum
Seems trillions of times bigger 
than the black speck itself!
That is what carves away 
my patience, my humanity
for the chase from wall to lamp 
to door to wall and back to chair
Without a care for this bug’s role 
in the stream of life.
I'll wait, sure as a spider 
sulking on her silky thread. 
This buzzing beast will die tonight.
Copyright (c) 2012 Ellen McCarthy. All rights reserved.