In my last post I spoke of my intense dislike of cockroaches and blogger Shaw Kenawe shared a poem she created in hopes that she could change my attitude:
HILDEGARD COCKROACH
Hildegard Cockroach lives in the city
And lives a life that's not very pretty.
She spends her days down in the drain
Of a smelly old sink. It's really a pain.
At night she crawls onto a sticky plate
or a stain of gravy that's second rate.
And if she's lucky, she's sometimes able
to feast on leftover food on the table.
"Nobody likes me," Hildegard thought,
"because of the life I lead, and it ought
not to influence how the feel.
It isn't my fault I must scrounge for a meal.
They jump when they see me, they run and yell.
They reach for the bug spray, and I can tell
how they hate me. But what did I do?
Just munched on a moldy old crumb or two.
O, it's true. The life of a cockroach is very hard,"
sighed the sad little cockroach, Hildegard.
It is a very nice poem and I appreciate her efforts. Here is my response.
POOR HILDEGARD COCKROACH
I’m almost persuaded.
She near touched my soul.
As the many sad hardships
Of her bug life she told.
Poor Hildegard Cockroach
A cockroach life is no crystal stair
And Hildy certainly does have a story to tell.
She’s a real sob sister
And a pitiful victim as well.
Poor Hildegard CockroachFirst she complains she must scrounge for her food.
Oh. she whines about every little this and little that.
“Nobody likes me; everybody hates me.”
The wailing and moaning Hildy has down pat.
Poor Hildegard Cockroach
Tom writes in the comments, loving those bugs still.
How could he? One jumped on his head!
And Jeny write of bugs in her mouth!
Blaaah—I want all Hildys DEAD!
Gross Hildegard Cockroach
Not one to give up in having his say,
Tom maintains there’s good in all bugs—even Hildy, by the way.
So, quite disdainfully, and sure I am right, I googled cockroaches today.
6 million nasty hits--but wait--2 were good
What can I say!
AH Hildegard Cockroach!
It seems in September of 2010
The Docs found cockroaches to be of some use
Fighting infections they searched for new antibiotics and found,
if you please, hot diggidy, they could use cockroach brain juice!!!
Valuable Hildegard Cockroach
I’ll donate to science; I’m up for that.
I’ll kill ‘em and keep the carcasses all
In a trash bag out of my sight
Till the bug hearsh comes to call.
Recycled Hildegard Cockroach
Do we jump when we see her?
Do we reach for the bug spray?
Oh yeah, you betcha! Without delay!
Disgusting Hildegard Cockroach
I’ve searched my heart in iambic pentameter* verse *sort of
Should we cut her a break? Does she deserve her fate?
Yeah, cause she’s icky, she’s yucky, she carries disease.
Stomp on her; smash her; run her down. Hate! Hate! Hate!
Goodby Hildegard Cockroach
Poor Hildegard Cockroach
Judy,
ReplyDeleteThat was hilarious! But remember, the lowly, repulsive cockroach may have the last laugh (hiss?) They can survive in almost any extreme temperature and live on almost nothing to eat. They can even live without a head until the regenerate one. (They have six brains, only one of which is in the head segment of its body.) Cockroaches also have the highest tolerence for radiation known to any living species of animal, being able to absorb and live through 6-15 times the dose needed to kill a human.
So if wo/mankind manages to nuke itself off the face of the earth, chances are that cockroaches will survive, and who knows, may possibly be the next dominant creatures.
Cockroaches are remarkable and repulsive at the same time.
Strange creatures indeed!
ReplyDeleteThis morning I encountered four in the den on the floor. One was dead as a door nail, lying on his back, the other three were lying on their backs with their many legs (and brains?) still twitching. The Orkin poison was in the process of killing them and had caused them to flip over. I got a paper towel and executed them with a crunchy sounding squeeze and dropped their towel draped carcasses into the trash can. Before Judy hounded me into becoming a warrior against the roach kingdom I would have gently picked them up, carried them out on the deck and released them so they might recover from the Orkin poison. I reached for the last one and somehow it turned over and took off like a flash, vanishing under the couch.
I fear I am beginning to like doing the killer thing, much like the soldier who was caught killing innocent people in Afghanistan for "fun".
Tom and Judy and Shaw,
ReplyDeleteI'm no fan of cockroaches either. Here's a cartoon from Mexico with part of the song "La Cucaracha". Hope I don't O'Donnell the link:
roach
In case you don't understand Spanish:
"The little roach,the little roach, she don't want to walk no more, because she needs, because she needs, marijuana to smoke"