Ron Stultz

"I Killed An Ant Today"

I killed an ant today.

One.

I did not mean to.

I am sorry.

I am sad.

On what must have appeared to him

as a vast desert

of my garage,

I saw him wandering.

Alone,

lost perhaps.

So small.

Drinking sugared water,

I thought perhaps,

I could "feed" him

with some spit.

I spit

but my aim was too good

and it landed right on him.

Not to worry

I thought,

"ants can swim"

and the puddle

is so small.

But he struggled

and could not find the edge,

the shoreline,

and then

he stopped moving.

I whisked him out of the pool, lake, pond, ocean

but he never moved again.

I know, in my blundering, unconscious, day,

I must crush many an ant and other small creature

but that does not excuse.

I took the life of living, breathing.

Life is too exotic, precious

for me to extinguish ever.

I killed an ant today

and I am sad

and I am sorry.