Mankinds paradoxical view on what is hygenic and what isn't.

It was a detailed pencil drawing
Of a French street in the 1930’s
The footpaths were dotted with people
On either side of the cobblestone road.

The cobblestones were highlighted
By quicksilver running quickly through the grooves
Making its to the gutter
Where it rushed to the nearest drain.

It wasn’t normal quicksilver.
Nobody knew what it was except clean.
It would gush down the drains
And float atop mankinds sewage.

Rats would swim, play and bathe in it.
Clean.
Every day they would climb to the streets.
Men would curse shem. Women would shriek.

The rats would forage for food.
Mans waste.
After feeding they would return to their drain
And wash mans filth away in their clean environment.

Thinking of this pencil drawing
It makes one wonder.
Who are the dirty ones?
Mankind or rat?