The Least of These - Edit3

[dukealien]

edit3;

Last night I watched an accidental roach
run frantic patterns in a plastic trash
receptacle with sides too slick to climb.
I thought of two or three things I could do:
spray down some poison, crush it with a shoe,
or tip the bin outside and let it limp
away on moonless moss.  Instead I took
no action; in the morning it was dead.
But now I feel somehow I’ve failed a test.

Hey duke- Don't feel too bad, there are always more roaches...

I would suggest further tightening, such as eliminating " for it"  since it would emphasize the line break into "to climb".  More attention to other breaks would also help.
I do like poems/observations of otherwise mundane things. Thanks... Mark

Haven't succeeded in tightening it so much as a line, though your suggestion proved helpful.  Yes, it's a small thing (though quite a large roach by North American standards) - but even if I do better next time I'll still have failed that test.