[RCL]

The Small White Snail

How do I hate you? Let me count the ways
you make a mockery of my weary days.
You smear your slime through rows of precious peas
and murder tender leaves like elm disease.
You will ignore or spurn my sovereign right;
and wage pernicious wars throughout the night,
and I, day after day, rebuild the ruins.
Sometimes I’m sure your crooked horns play tunes:
sneers, satiric taunts and sluggish jeers.
I’ve glossed your cursive lines with fear and tears
as baffling whorls and finely crazed white shell
drive me so mad and confused that I can’t tell
how your subversive tricks and stunts survive—
despite my wrath and poison, even thrive!
Call me Ahab. Call the hated snail
my Moby Dick, My Great White Whale.


Call me Ralph