Crocks and Gaters

I was not always big and mean.
I started small and rather green.
Like any creature of the swamp
I was attracted to your camp.

Like gnats and flees and bumblebees
and sap that drips from poison trees
I was sent her to torment man.
I try to be the best I can.

The creator had in mind
a counterbalance
weight and scale,
and here begins my torrid tale.

You see the beauty of the everglades
Life has been for you, all spades.
The flower has its roots in dirt.
A thorny flower inflicts hurt.

So if I bite off your little toe.
An appendage that does not regrow.
Will you be glad the other four
escaped the tearing and the gore?

Oh, here swims by a little frog.
It's finished sunning on the log.
It's just my size for a quick lunch.
Your toe escaped! Thanks a bunch?

I am a part of balanced nature.
Some ancients thought I was sacred treasure.
But you don't like the chrocodile
My cousin, swimming in the Nile.