The Lion and the Gnat

"Begone, ignoble insect! Speck of excrement!"
The lion one day told the gnat,
Or roared to this effect, whereat
The gnat immediately went
To war. "King, sweetie, thinkest thou
Your royal title makes me get cold feet?
A mean old bull is twice as strong as you
And I make him do any tricks I want him to,
So when I see you, baby, all I see is meat!"
No sooner was this spoken than
With his small trumpet he began
To sound the charge, this one-gnat band
And freedom fighter both combined.
He mobilized, struck tail and mane,
And drove the lion near insane.
The quadruped began to froth, his eyes glowed red.
He roared! Small creatures hid and great ones fled—
A scene of universal dread
Accomplished by one tiny gnat.
This dwarfish fly zoomed all about,
He stung the lion's rump, he stung the lion's snout,
Then flew inside of that and stung.
The lion’s mounting fury reached its topmost rung:
His unseen foe was winning, gleeful as it saw
How in his rampant fury every tooth and claw
Performed the butcher’s job for which it was designed—
The lion bled from many a self-inflicted wound.
He lashed his tail along his flanks,
But only struck thin air; his mane fell out in hanks,
Until frustrated rage so weakened him he swooned!
The insect left the field with oak leaves on his brow;
As earlier the charge, he sounded victory now!
But soon thereafter, going through the world to tell
His glorious feat, proceeding down a road he fell
Into a spider’s ambush—and met his end as well.

Is there perhaps a lesson to be drawn from this?
Well, I see two. The first: if one has enemies
The ones to fear the most are often least in size.
And, second: one may come through holocausts untouched
Then choke upon a grain of rice.

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