Earwigging


Our neighbour was gardening.

“Beware of earwigs,” she said.

“They go in through your ear, 

crawl round your brain 

and tickle you to death”

She showed me them on her dahlias,

long feelers and a little forked tail,

“like the devil, squash them!” she said.

Some ran onto my hand.

They tickled and I laughed.

“Squash them!” she cried,

“or I’ll tell your mum!”

But I couldn’t.



https://poetsonline.org/archive/arch_advicehesaid.html

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