Ant

By Chiara Mores

Ants indulge in pulling sandwiches apart

Piece by piece 

Stealing every piece for themselves 

Until there is nothing left of the sandwich

Then, 

The ant disappears 

The sandwich remains at the mercy of the ant 

The ant loves the vicious, destructive cycle

The ant creeps towards the sandwich 

Thoughts of victory flooding its mind 

As the ant gets closer to the sandwich 

The quiet steps become 

Roaring stomps 

The ant lifts one crumb at a time onto its back 

Before quickly disappearing somewhere into the grass 

At first

You don’t mind missing one crumb 

But before you know it

All at once

The realisation wraps its hands around your neck as you slowly lose your vision 

If you don’t do something quickly

It’ll be too late

The ant will have demolished the sandwich 

But the guilt bubbles up inside you at the thought of having to squish something you feel

Obligated to protect 

Because you know 

Under that ant’s ruthlessness

Is a fragile being 

One that wants to prove itself to their fellow ants 

One that believes this cycle is the only way to survive 

One that you fight to believe wouldn’t tug the sandwich apart 

If they knew their damage 

So instead 

The sandwich stays 

Hurt, guilty, empathetic, confused, running out of time

As the ant slowly eats away at the sandwich 

Until the sandwich no longer remains

By Chiara Mores