Monday, May 17, 2010

Lady Bugs

It was a mourner’s beach
I walked this evening
Hundreds of
Red and black bodies
Lay tumbled and forgotten in the surf
Why did they come?
Were they bewitched by the oceans call?
As I looked down saddened
I saw movement
Not all were lost
And I began to gather up little round bodies
In my hands
I started with just a few
They kept wriggling their way
Between my closed fingers
Falling back onto the sand once more
So I went back to my car
Dog in toe and got my coffee mug
Down on my hands and knees now,
I began filling my mug
With one cupped hand over the top
In an hour and a half I collected
Well over a hundred
Lady bugs
Then stopped
When the light had faded
With a full cup I headed back to my car
I drove one hand over the top of the mug,
And the other on the steering wheel
Back to my garden
I set the cup
In the middle
Then watched as they poured out of the top
Red, black, and beautiful
Clambering out into the green
I wished that I could have saved more
Of those precious aphid eaters
It was a mourner’s beach
I walked tonight,
But this is
A thanksgiving garden
Where
Red and black
Fade into
Green

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