The Ants, A Bee, and Me

Sauntering into the yard listlessly

Eyes studying the ground

Trying to recollect what it used to be

My memory proving to be in deficit

I pivot to the stairs

Keys cozying into my pocket

I ring the bell

So my sedentary father inside the castle will move

My mother speaks next to me

But I don't know what she's saying

My peripherals see the circle of life

Members of a colony bringing down something more valued than themselves

I am entranced by nature

I beckon my mother to witness the wonders transpiring on her steps

She says "ok"

I photograph the spectacle

My father answers the bell

The parents concede to the indoors

I start to yield to the inside

The bee shrieks

"You watch me.

You marvel at my demise.

For what,

I'm crucial.

Do something.

Crush the peasants."

Shamefully I reply

"To be honest,

For a millisecond

I thought about crushing all of you

And wielding some fleeting phantom power

that surged through me."

The bee gasps in shock and on its last breath

"That's fucked up."

I retort

"I'm human."

The ants in chorus interject

"We know.

Your consciousness,

Your soul,

Your ingenuity,

Your free will,

Is a spiked boulder that clobbers everything you build."