POETRY | NATURE | PET LOVERS | MORAL QUANDARIES

Dilemma

Pet owners will understand

It’s always something! — Photo by the author

The fire ant band likes to set up their camp In the hot and the dry, not the cold and the damp.

They build with a fervor — so wide and so quick. Soon rising skyward — like ancient abandoned mounds of cracked pots, and broken sticks.

Our four dogs (of course) are driven to ramble right there. Of a stinging surprise that awaits them, blissfully unaware.

Carefully, I guide them ‘round that small, scary spot. Were any harm to befall them — my head goes in the stocks.

To poison or leave be, a distinct dilemma or quandary — But at our home’s near vicinity, my wife sets a boundary.

A Borax-laced, sugary mixture is my weapon of choice. Yet we must use care around those whose bark is their voice.

Dr Google states the danger of using such bait. So for their cycle to complete, I patiently wait.