Honor the Worms

Droplets of rain fall on the scene assuredly,
Heavy clouds cover the sun, winking demurely.
Obscurity of vision banishes all light
Drizzly sheets recall a dark and stormy night.

Gray dreariness settles as the oceans fill the view,
Endless water begets moist torrents anew.
What was once an early, playful dawn,
Has now (like empires and swirling stars) gone.

But whilst the sky falls, plummeting down,
The earthworms appear, with neither smile nor frown.
Slithering, slinking, oozing annelid slime,
They sidewind and move in concertina, 4/4 time,

For wiggly worms, both big and small, cannot survive,
A toasty sun with burning rays that knive,
Nor can they in flooded homes linger long,
Expatriates, they search for a new place to belong.

Days hence, the sky clears and azure smiles again,
Green blades stand firm, they stretch and do not wane,
But the worms, oh the worms! Poor souls
They’ve dried and fried more than ancient scrolls.

A single worm, desiccated and dead,
Adheres to the sidewalk, stuck from tail to head,
How pitiful a sight, what heartbreaking sorrow,
This little fellow shall never see the morrow.

So if ever you’re saunt’ring and a rainbow’s out,
After a storm’s blustered and blown away,
Take care to observe your step on the route,
And pay homage to worms in decay.

Watch out for piteous Billy worm, who could be under your boot,
The bloke’s journey never came to full term, so don’t squish him; salute.

-Submitted by Vivian Chang