Lepisma saccharina dwell in dark
Drawers. Sometimes, you see them scoot for cover—
Silverfish—darting among spoons and forks,
Searching for sustenance, or, perhaps, love.
You wonder what food they find on bookshelves,
Amid the cutlery, in cabinets.
They feed on crumbs, on mucilage—they delve
Incessantly, scouring bleak habitat.
For what? How do they differ, these slick, quick
Insects, from the rest of us, mimicking,
For three hundred million years, the lyric
Lift we, the much evolved, advanced forms sing—
Adrift upon that legendary ark—
Des’prate for food and love despite the dark?
(8/9/08)