determined ants

today I want to commence a dialogue with the ants
on the floor, on the wall, on the furniture
I want to tell them – hey,
what’s the hurry?
slow down, take it easy,
enjoy what life can bring
in the way of small joys and quiet moments

look, I want to say,
at the flags strung up across the street
in anticipation of the holiday,
the overheated pregnant expectation of the
birth of a new year
we are baking in the heat and waiting
for the timer to go off

think, ants, of the benefits to heart and soul
of reflectective spells that come to the
middle aged, as they contemplate their choices
and where they have been brought to
washed up on the sands of late afternoon

always apprehensive that a
hitherto unnoticed character may
burst through the fourth wall and
in some Gilbert and Sullivan plot device
shout: stop! there’s been a mistake!
you were supposed to take the other fork,
take a different flight,
by this time you’re supposed to be living by the sea!

such thoughts ought to be coloured
with curiosity, rather than regret
one life, but every day thousands of tiny choices
that can tilt us backwards and forwards, left and right,
deterministically hammering out what we can see
of the path ahead

ah, ants, I see you will not be swayed
I lack the persuasive power
and fair enough – it seems that
if the genie were to offer me three wishes
I might use one of them to receive the gift
of communicating with ants
rather than more practical things like
a cement mixer that never breaks down
or the perfect endless glass of beer
or world peace, etc. 

so run, ants, scamper and run
towards your indefinite future
make your hay as your sun shines
I will follow in good time
leave me to my nonsense, it pleases me