In the Dark

At the greenhouse where
I worked one summer
I discovered a cloudy pool
cupped in landscape plastic.
The worm trapped there
belonged in another vessel:
cow’s rumen, dog’s gut,
its nail-head end leading pale body
in languid filigrees through
standing water, parasite
in blind search for host.
If such a hideous thing
innocent of true evil
could grow in plain sight
under bleaching July sun
what writhing, sucking thing
can darkness produce?

Photo by Elee Vigil on Unsplash