COCKROACHES

By Joan (Watler) Wilson

I saw a cockroach crossing the road

As fast as his scrawny legs could go

Without fear of being squashed to death

He didn’t even attempt to go slow

*

And it wasn’t an ordinary road he was crossing

It was one with three lanes in place

One that is so busy with traffic

And where motorists are inclined to race

*

My guess is he’d come out of a coconut tree

Where so many ‘roaches make their home

Or maybe he’d missed the blast of insect spray

And escaped the comforts of a nice bedroom

*

But who knows where this cockroach was going

Just where was he trying to get

He was headed west toward the beach

For a picnic with other roaches – I bet!

*

Do you know that roaches have been around

From before the beginning of time?

And no matter how many millions we kill

A new way of surviving they’ll find

*

We can only try to keep them under control

And out of our homes anyway

But just like the ants we see everywhere

The cockroach is here to stay.