Negligible

Christian Century, August 9, 2003 by Luci Shaw

Negligible

   The ant, brief as a second,
   lone scout of dew and peony petals,
   black on cream. Easy to pluck,
   and a trifling crunch
   under foot.

   The dust mite also,
   invisible to the eye, invading
   pillows, mattresses, with her
   generations--fuse for my
   explosive allergies.

   Assumed: that we will stand in awe
   of larger things, like the bulldozer
   tearing the ancient cedars
   from the lot down the road. Or a bomb.
   Or the oceans. Or the expanding universe.

   But let us up-end our thoughts:
   What matchstick of vexation
   lights the slow wick of rancor.
   How like a parasite
   it eats at our gut.

   And how one moment's
   catalytic radiance (think: St. Clare,
   at Portiuncula) tilts, overturns the universe,
   plants our feet on heaven's
   widening threshold.