Apologies to Archie...

Once I was a bacterium
in Cleopatra's armpit--

That was an interesting
woman to live with

(like being downstairs from an endless
tragic nightclub sports-arena!)

She had ordered a bath
with an asp to go
when I and several hundred thousand of us
were gently carried off
in a cozy rose-soapy flood
into a river of richer scents

and at last we could sleep
without plots and terror and rages
or too much of that fun
cats and primates make such a fuss about!

While we missed the nightly news
of what was happening in Egypt
there were crocodiles and fish and hippos
with their own stories going on.