On a bed of foot-spittle
Glides through the night towards dreams of vegetation,
Will devour in one sitting
The hopes of gardeners,
Then hide with the dawn:
No wonder they chase it with forks and salt,
Brewed liquor and the stamped foot!
Eats its own body weight and more
Through the witching hours,
In mists and under a moon,
To leave the world clean –
So who can complain ?
Feeds hedgehogs, foxes, toads and birds,
Can stretch 11 times its own length,
Has 27,000 teeth,
Can crawl across the edge of a razor.
Only brute flesh,
But see the wonder !
The beauty and magic of the humblest of creatures
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