Asymmetrical relationship with the cockroach

The cockroach did not know that evolution never taught humans to befriend it,

And, It didn’t learn to hide.

It approached towards me not with an intention of hurting me,

 But it approached swiftly not with venom but six hesitant feet, and two trembling antennae,

That shook its head with an unspeakable greetings. 

Perhaps, it thought proximity was the beginning of a new friendship. 

It came near to me, close to my ears as if it wanted to whisper some tea, and spill some secrets.

But, I turned away in disgust.

It ran into my foots, with its polished shell and  offered me a glittery smile.

The smile of a being who has never been loved, Yet arrives with a fading hope that someday someone will love and accept it as it is!!

I did not ask, why it was here!

Neither did I bother to wonder-

if my fear was valid to kill a being, a living creature?!

And, me as a human, 

I only remembered parts of everything I ever inherited- 

The fear,

The disgust, 

The pollution,

And, of course, erasure and eradication! 

Removal of everything that I don't approve of!

A slipper reached faster than a missile and landed on the cremated body of the 'thing'!

The cockroach died still facing me, 

As though it felt betrayal, waiting for an answer that I never gave!

How absurd is an asymmetrical relationship in the symbiotic?! 

How strange is the hierarchy?! 

The pyramid decides who gets to live!

One being comes with innocence of its existence- with colors and its nature. 

The other comes armed with the privilege of deciding which aesthetic lives deserve a second chance. 

A glance to observe. 

Hence, the jelly fish in the aquarium survives. 

But, not the cockroach. 

A butterfly is mummified, but a cockroach thrown away in the dustbin. 

The cockroach offered nothing it simply existed,

I made an excuse to execute it and pave the way for its extinction.

Perhaps, all unequal relationships begin this way- one heart mistakes power as protection and surrenders to the tyrants, 

While the other mistakes vulnerability for an invitation towards annihilation. 

And, somewhere beneath the silence of a overturned tiny body,

A questionable friendship remained the only thing unexplored, that never had a chance to evolve. 

©® Farheen Akter Bhuian 

Timestamp: 6.10 am, 25th july, 2026 

Chittagong. 

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