Ants
This morning
whilst brushing my teeth
and trying
with very little success
to obey the dental profession's plea
to brush in a circular motion
and not
in a side to side motion
I noticed some ants
scurrying about on the shiny porcelain
doing no harm
just going about their morning routine
as was I
with very little thought
and even less concern
I brushed them into the basin
turned the tap on for a beat or two
and flushed them away
as I turned the tap off
with toothpaste foaming around my mouth
and running down the toothbrush onto my wrist
a terrible guilt and a crushing sadness
at my unthinking cruelty
at my cavalier snuffing out of life
overtook me
and wrought within me
an overwhelming desire
to tip my head back
and wail at the ceiling
to try and assuage
the soul-deep sorrow
the deep-seated need for forgiveness
that wracked my very core.
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