Freedom

Years ago, i knew a cockroach
with thick brown shell and
blazingly skittery legs
that crawled across my carpet
in search of food for his family

any crumbling bit of my life
was good enough to save
his thousand million children
and grandchildren.

When the exterminator came
in a plain white van,
I thought of all the cockroach eggs
under the kitchen sink and gagged

at the thought of the black flecks
of the their parents feces
splattered on the undersides of
cabinet doors and hidden spots
behind appliances

"Soon," I thought,
"a million lives will end
a billion possibilities...

Do cockroaches dream?"

I wonder.