Tribute To Earthworm Dave

For the past half billion years They crawled the earth both soil and sphere Million trillion unknown souls To eat and breed their only goal Homme or femme hermaphrodite In pairs romance 'neath damp moonlight Throughout the year they dig and toil By the billions aerate soil Breaking down organic matter A major fertilising factor Unseen, unheard, unsung dirt hero Eco workers far from zero Brought to surface by rainwater Exposes them to blackbird slaughter Toad and fox and rat and mole Darwin's bloodbath takes its toll Under ploughshare countless die Modern farming genocide Then one decides to grow and grow Survives the hedgehog and the crow Point four a metre - foot and three With mass an ounce a bit weighty Record breaking - caused a rave And someone thought to call him Dave His gift to science sealed his doom Humanely killed - a glass jar tomb Cardboard headstone with his name Immortalised - the cost of fame Twitter whitter - late to save Anthropomorphised earthworm Dave Based on BBC news article "Widnes worm Dave wriggles into record books" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-37861928 With help from Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthworm Written 4th November 2016