Millipede

(Ode to Donald Hayes)

Why are there so many spiders in my garden?
And why do the bees keep leaving me mushrooms?

Hello Beetle, you don’t seem yourself today
So start climbing up and go away…
I wonder if I shall see a swarm of dragonflies
Darting here and there
And tell your friend, Mosquito, goodbye
And he zips diagonally in the air

I never quite understood where the DDT came from
But I guess that’s quite okay
Because to control the pests that destroy our gardens
DDT makes them go away
Billowing cloud of pesticide extravaganza
Get the earwig and inchworm
Be wary of those little insects
Who only cause and spread germs

So say goodbye to the millipede
My spaceship shoots its thousand joints
And oh no! Look out for that spider!
Good, get it! That’s 900 points!