Ephemerality

Part I

Head and body push upward,
breaking through surface tension
to breach above the watery nursery.
Time for dormancy draws to a close
and the prospect of full maturity empowers.
Skin is shed and wings burst forth;
exposing their tender membrane to the morning air.

Not alone in his consummation,
the mayfly emerges;
surrounded by the presence
of a thousand sailboat wings.
Though unlike the rest of the armada,
the first hesitant flight,
the desperate swarming,
searching,
and the twirling, airborne insemination
will not become a reality:
they are to stay the dreamed future
of a blossoming nymph

For these years spent developing
with the soul purpose of fulfilling
only the most basic instinctual needs,
are ultimately to achieve nothing more
than redundancy
in the confines of a jam jar.


Part II

Cold glass, clutched in sweaty hands,
forms a thin layer of condensation
across the jam-scented surface.
Anticipation and want tug at the mind
as leaf and branch bow to the touch.

Muddied feet arrive at the bank
and body stands, casting a long shadow
over the teeming water.
He watches as their moment finally comes,
crouches, portable prison in one hand,
before swooping down, snaring the prize.

The insect is examined,
poked at;
before, curiosity satiated,
the glass jar is placed on the mantle piece
and forgotten.