PAD Day 13: A Plea from the Lowly Worm

Today's dual prompts from Poetic Asides and NaPoWriMo: (1) write a poem about an insect (or other small creepy-crawly) and make it the poem's title, and (2) "write a poem in which the words or meaning of a familiar phrase get up-ended. For example, if you chose the phrase 'A stitch in time saves nine,' you might reverse that into something like: 'a broken thread; I’m late, so many lost.' Or 'It’s raining cats and dogs' might prompt the phrase 'Snakes and lizards evaporate into the sky.'"  I hope I did justice to the second prompt, but I did enjoy writing this one:

Early Worms

We're disgusting to so many -

eyeless, legless, flesh-colored, slimy,

snaky little things wriggling out of moist earth

and squirming, beached in a way,

on sidewalks after a storm.  

But how many times have we served you

sacrificing ourselves as bait for the fish

you put on your dinner tables?

Must we remind you farmers and gardeners

that we creatures create the rich soil

that grows your flowers and crops?

And don't forget, if you can bear it,

the service we perform after you die.

We think, if there were any justice in this world,
the saying would be, "The early worm gets the bird."