Attack Of The Insects

you don’t know
which has you
more afraid

dying
or
shitting your pants

prides of insects
large as house cats
attacking

they attack
from above

rending
tearing
devouring

alone you are dead

defending together
back-to-back
odds about 50-50

screams shouts
blood
streets in ruin

bodies strewn everywhere
some human
some not

they are drawn
to fear

you are alone
and afraid

they sense

you sense
(they are coming for you next)

wind from their wings

you panic
you run

helpless
hopeless

you don’t want
to die

you
wake

gasping
puddle of sweat
heart racing

dream over

usually
when you wake

it’s a
normal world

with
normal people

and
predictable events

sometimes
when you wake

it is worse
than the dream

unfamiliar
unpredictable
unfriendly

every step we take
brings us
closer to death

why don’t we

stay put?
shelter in?
cocoon?
build a bomb shelter?

because
death is there too
in those
”safe places”

death exists

period

nothing we say
or do stops it

some things delay
or prolong it

but it is there lurking
within us

we walk with death
always

first moment of death
last moment life

life and
death

coexisting

both present
in the same moment

coexisting

like schrödinger’s cat

potentialities
in time and space

coexisting

(C)2022 Raibeart Bruis