The enemy had many forms—
a forest that I cut by hand
until I changed the view.
my punishment for pulling it
The rodents came in secret
and hid within the house;
it took two years to get them all,
but now there’s not a mouse.
The ants then started swarming,
I stamped and squashed and sprayed
until their army was subdued.
The centipedes were legion,
I slayed them all and left
their twitching legs upon the floor.
And then there came the hornets
like winged knives for hire,
I purged them from the very earth
Within the wooden siding,
the birds had made their nests;
I tore them out, the last to fall
now vanquished like the rest.
A house is more than furniture
with the forces of the earth.