Praying

PRAYING

Inspired by ‘A Noiseless Patient Spider’ by Walt Whitman

A stick, a blade of grass, a fallen leaf:

The unsuspecting insect takes his course.

Towards his nemesis unwittingly

May the lord have mercy on his soul?

Patiently, unmoving, silently

The mantis sits and prays his fervent prayer.

Then, quick as lightening, pounces on his prey

Holding it fast between his vicelike grip.

One snap.  Off comes the creatures head.

Its body then ingested totally.

Sans life, sans breath, sans home and family.

The insect has departed his short life.

I wonder in his periods of prayer

If the quite predator spares a little thought

For his poor victims cut of in their prime

Who have met untimely such a fate.

I doubt it for, like us, when we eat meat

We think not of the little calf or lamb

Slaughtered and cooked to satisfy our needs

Our way of life  since this old world began.