the ant

Un arenque, por favor = One herring, please.

i almost walked onto an ant in the elevator, the other day.
tiny and black, crawling quickly in small crop circles,
its movement immediately obvious to me on the cold marble floor.

i lifted my boot, and let it hover over the little creature, wondering what it was doing in the elevator and all alone.
it was oblivious to my shadow, and kept to its sacred mission in life, faithfully and without deviation.
i lowered my foot away from it then, a little shameful to have even considered, sending it back to its maker.

it continued on, in equal frantic circles, making its way dizzily onto the blacker marble slabs, slowly disappearing into the darker design.
i wondered then how God decides which one of us should be "taken" from our daily rituals of life. which one of us will be next?
and i shook my head clear, stepping out to start the afternoon.