Two Ants Reminiscing

 

 

Two dead ants lay a talking

The topic was their demise,

Asked one of the other,

“Can you remember how you died?”

 

“What are you asking me?”

He replied quite surprised,

“No ant ever knew how,”

To which the other smiled.

 

“Neither do they get a chance

To talk about it after.”

And this very cheeky remark

Evoked a bit of laughter.

 

“I still need an answer

To the question that I posed,

Like me, you are dead,

But certainly not comatose.

 

 

There is a difference, you know,

Between dead and comatose,

One is temporarily unconscious

The other thinks he knows.

 

To give you an example

I remembered how I died,

I will tell you in a minute

Whether or not you decide.”

 

“I do know, I assure you,

I most definitely remember,

I was crawling across a countertop

And but up on finger.

 

That finger I will never forget

Even long after I am dead,

The fact that that counter was clean

Still fills me deathly dread.

 

 

I could have been alive today

Were it not for that finger,

It was huge and imposing

I most definitely remember.

 

What about your case?

You promised you would say

So, tell me now before I leave,

I don’t have all day.

 

Another countertop adventure?

But then again, you are dead,

So, before we part again

Please tell me as you said.”

 

“Yours was a monstrous finger

Mine was a gigantic toe,

That toe was unerringly accurate

Just like the finger you know.

 

I was in a bathroom

Aimlessly crawling across the floor

When I confronted a big toe

And like you, I was no more.

 

Like you, I got nothing

As that floor was also clean.

I have come to the conclusion

That humans are very mean.”

 

 

Asked ant 1 of ant 2.

“What did you learn from this?”

“That from now I’ll be living outdoors,

Indoors is a serious risk.”

 

“I agree,” said ant 1,

Stay away from bathroom floors

 And from clean countertops as well,

It’s better to be dead outdoors.

 

Stewart Russell © May 2020