Sit and Wait

They move their legs so subtly.

They avoid eye contact as if my focus is not deprived.

They alert all they know to avoid any confrontation.

Is my appearance grotesque?

My face undoubtably frightening?

Or is it my situation in society that makes me feel like a mantis.

Stealthily I beg

Cunningly I take pennies and scrounge for necessities

Happily I smile

Angrily you move your child as if your cricket-like family would have been pinched by my claws

The same claws I beg

The same claws I plead

For health and compassion

For I am no mantis

And this mattress in which I perch is no eucalyptus branch

But you are free to deprive my area in society to a twig-sized mass of which I will gladly call home.