John McCutcheon Hey, Little Ant
Hey Little Ant, down in that crack
Can you hear me? Can you talk back?
See my shoe? Can you see that?
Oh now it's gonna squish you flat.
(gasp)! Please oh please do not squish me
Spare my life and let me be
I'm on my way home with a crumb of pie
Please don't squish me, don't make me die.
Oh anyone knows that an ant can't feel,
You're so tiny you don't seem real.
I'm so big and you're so small
I don't think it'll hurt at all.
Yeah - well you are a giant and giants can't
Know how it feels to be an ant.
Come down close and you will see
That you are quite a lot like me.
Are you crazy? Me? Like you?
Why I've got a home and a family too.
You're just a speck that runs around.
No one'll care if my foot comes down.
Oh big friend you are so wrong
My nest mates need me because I am strong.
I dig our nest, feed baby ants too
I must not die beneath your shoe.
Yeah well my mother says that ants are rude.
They carry off our picnic food.
They steal our chips and our bread crumbs too.
Who cares if I kill a crook like you?
Hey I'm not a crook, kid, read my lips.
Sometimes ants need crumbs and chips.
Why, one of your chips feeds my whole town
You must not let your foot come down.
Yeah, but all my friends squish ants each day
Squishing ants is a game we play.
They're looking at us, they're listening too.
They all say - I should squish you!
Well I can see you're big and strong
Decide for yourself what's right and wrong.
But if you were me and I were you
What would you want me to do?
Should the ant get squished? Should the ant go free?
It's up to the kid, not up to me.
So we'll leave that kid with the raised up shoe
What do you think that kid should do?
