The death of a small wasp

[Alan Sondheim]

The death of a small wasp


How wonderful the work of Nature is!
I looked at the tiny wasp through an antique microscope.
The wasp was our pet.
It lived with us for several weeks.
Then one day, it died, of natural causes.
The bristles are perfectly arranged on the legs.
The lenses are crisp and beautiful, the eyes! the eyes!
Everything is as it should be.
Such structures! Such configurations!
The wasp is thread-wasted and quite small.
I will pray for the wasp.
Such perfect design, such eloquence!
Nothing is happening here, nothing, nothing!
It is all useless, it didn't multiply, emptied.

And the World is emptied of meaning.
And we are the hard-scrabble savanna primates who did it.
Before us! Everything little thing!
Inconceivable structures, amazing configurations!
Now, nothing corrodes, nothing coheres.
We violate the universe, we slaughter!

I believe nothing, I will pray for the wasp!
I will pray for the wasp!