"Accessory"

by Lianne Olive Hennig

It floated in my cup of tea.
I poured it in the sink.
The odour of an emmet
Quite put me off my drink.

I’d poured the scalding water,
Not knowing it was there,
Then added milk and spied it
Floating without a care.

It wriggled of its legs no more
But I could count them still.
I wondered at the detail
In God’s pervading will…

To use me as the agent when
The poor thing’s time was up and
To give the tiny thing the urge to
Explore my empty cup.

Exceedingly convenient,
Accessories on hand, with
Every step along the way
Wondrously foreplanned.

It made me think upon the time it’s my turn to be dead –
Would a rotting tree branch fall down upon my head?
Would a lightning bolt strike me from the sky?
What’s the how and why, and wherefore, of when I’m meant to die?

*
I poured it in the kitchen sink.
It’s decaying in the pipes.
The thought of drinking emmet tea
Has given me the gripes.