William F Dougherty - Hic Jacet (Definitive)

The earwig perished on a page,
a scholar's life impressed, abridged;
thumb-notches deep in Webster's work
the curious mite inscribed his mark.

A flat insecticide, by chance,
the open jaws of reference
thumped against his scrounging form
as he sought shelter under 'fern, '

the syllable he trusted most
as camouflage, but wryly lost
that fraud of verbal frond,
indited in a lexicon.

William F Dougherty

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