Venom

Snakes in the offing. It won't do to tread
the rough field lightly, carelessly. Instead
we'll go in heavy boots with two-pronged staff
and see there is no ripple in the grass
we fail to notice, out to make a pass
at any motion, sure to make no gaffe.

Snakes have grown streetwise. On their own terrain
they're hard to catch unless you burn the plain
and smoke them out, so we can hold the town
and keep them at a distance. We can make
them shrivel in our heat with in its wake
the final slaughter as we gun them down -

and never mind we do not need their place;
we will obliterate them without trace
and save the plain, and leave its charred remains
a warning for all future serpent breeds -
their former luscious territory all weeds
and evil smells stirred by the autumn rains.