Common Shrew

There are some of us
for whom the choice is simple:
bite or be beaten.

Feeling small,
we rush open-jawed
to eat the enemy.

Please try to understand,
it is only fear that makes us want
to feel the heat of your blood inside us.

Do not begrudge us this comfort.
It’s not easy to be so finely wrought,
and armed with such a flimsy philosophy.

© Ynes Sanz 2005