Grasshopper

This business of having one last leg
Must take some getting used to
When I see the grasshopper on the porch,
He looks less like a grasshopper and more like a car wreck

Nose down, dead still, not a body
So much as some great damage
And I know that it was no accident
Deciding it had to be done was the hardest part

He thought about it for a long, long time
Well, he loved his leg, but it was broken
And how could another one grow
Until he ate the first?

One morning, he felt a tickle
He knew might be a new leg sprouting
So carefully, so very carefully
He pulled out from under his grief and took the first bite

-Jeanne Murray Walker