Which Death? Which Death? Somehow You Have To Choose. Poem by RIC BASTASA

imagine
how painful would it be

for the bee not to sting
for the snake not to bite
or for those scorpions
underneath the earth
not to take their trek
on the rocks
on the nights of their
hunger
not to eat the prey
which is reserved for
them

would you believe
the promise of the bee, the snake,
the scorpion
not to sting and not to take
the bite

why do you pity the prey?
which death would you
sympathize?
which foot would you take
into empathy with
you?

which death? which death?
somehow you have to choose.