Convenience
Last week, the afternoon of “garbage day,”
I stepped out to the curbside to retrieve
My emptied trash can, near which neatly lay
Its lid, inverted. What should I perceive,
But in the bin - not empty after all -
A tiny bag, tied neatly with a bow
So tight its odor wasn’t what you’d call
A stench, but doggy droppings even so?
No Holmes required to deduce from this
That some dog-walker found my empty bin
Convenient, even thought it not amiss
To place Spike’s gathered calling cards therein.
How should I feel about it? That bin’s mine!
But would I do the same? I guess. So, fine.
(After writing this unromantic sonnet in a spirit of humorous ethical exploration, I learned it touches a serious political issue on the US Left Coast: some say the material can't be recycled, others that it mustn't go into landfills, either. Special street-corner bins have been demanded. Is it true, to paraphrase Ghandi, that the greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animal droppings are treated?)
Last week, the afternoon of “garbage day,”
I stepped out to the curbside to retrieve
My emptied trash can, near which neatly lay
Its lid, inverted. What should I perceive,
But in the bin - not empty after all -
A tiny bag, tied neatly with a bow
So tight its odor wasn’t what you’d call
A stench, but doggy droppings even so?
No Holmes required to deduce from this
That some dog-walker found my empty bin
Convenient, even thought it not amiss
To place Spike’s gathered calling cards therein.
How should I feel about it? That bin’s mine!
But would I do the same? I guess. So, fine.
(After writing this unromantic sonnet in a spirit of humorous ethical exploration, I learned it touches a serious political issue on the US Left Coast: some say the material can't be recycled, others that it mustn't go into landfills, either. Special street-corner bins have been demanded. Is it true, to paraphrase Ghandi, that the greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animal droppings are treated?)
Non-practicing atheist