Perseverance
 
A weird crow screams
at you to watch out.
To not step on the future
wriggling underfoot.
 
A damaged caterpillar, squashed
by something or someone,
crawling doggedly forward.
Its entrails a syrup-trail
 
following its mulish will
to survive. You slip
away to a sealed and insulated
chamber. But the crow’s persistent
 
call circles like a harpy,
before finally returning
to its throat, chastened
but not beaten.
 
The way weeds and grass send
out their tender roots creeping
past the trails of earthworms,
sending and sending until
 
new shoots poke through.
Their soft green culms
tougher than you can imagine.
And they keep at it.
 
Finally, the asphalt
Gives in and splits.
A hairline-crack. But
that is enough already.

Shikhandin


If you have any thoughts about this poem,  Shikhandin would be pleased to hear them