Last month a snake
crawled up our downspout
trying to find shade or
just a place for an afternoon nap.
I took his picture, asked
an app what he was
and the app answered.
The snake said “you
could have asked me,
and I would have told you
my name is Hector,
but all you cared about
was what species I was.
It is always that way
with your species, you
worrying about this and that
when all many of us want
to do is take a nap,
not bothering anyone.”
Hours later the snake was
gone, having decided
coexisting openly with humans
was far more work
than it would ever be worth.