Prided on patience,
I wait and watch the world around me,
Cocooned, concealed, keeping countenance.
Wings full-grown, but folded.
Eyes, mind, sharp but blinded.
All attempts to emerge, impeded.
Restrained by ripples of racing rain,
Suppressed by sight of spying sparrows,
Until at last, clear day.
......
Death is like the insect
Menacing the tree,
Competent to kill it,
But decoyed may be.
Bait it with the balsam,
Seek it with the saw,
Baffle, if it cost you
Everything you are.
......
When did you start your tricks
Monsieur?
What do you stand on such high legs for?
Why this length of shredded shank
You exaltation?
Is it so that you shall lift your centre of gravity upwards
And weigh no more than air as you alight upon me,
Stand upon me weightless, you phantom?
......
A big fat black dirigible of a fly
careening around the office
buzzed me, like a test pilot and the tower.
I could feel its clumsy wake
Before it landed on the wall taunting me to strike back
Carol said, "They're huge this time of year,
you could almost put a saddle on them,"
The banter reminded me of the June Bug
......
I love to hear thine earnest voice,
Wherever thou art hid,
Thou testy little dogmatist,
Thou pretty Katydid!
Thou mindest me of gentlefolks,-
Old gentlefolks are they,-
Thou say'st an undisputed thing
In such a solemn way.
Thou art a female, Katydid!
......
Prided on patience,
I wait and watch the world around me,
Cocooned, concealed, keeping countenance.
Wings full-grown, but folded.
Eyes, mind, sharp but blinded.
All attempts to emerge, impeded.
Restrained by ripples of racing rain,
Suppressed by sight of spying sparrows,
Until at last, clear day.
......
A big fat black dirigible of a fly
careening around the office
buzzed me, like a test pilot and the tower.
I could feel its clumsy wake
Before it landed on the wall taunting me to strike back
Carol said, "They're huge this time of year,
you could almost put a saddle on them,"
The banter reminded me of the June Bug
......
When did you start your tricks
Monsieur?
What do you stand on such high legs for?
Why this length of shredded shank
You exaltation?
Is it so that you shall lift your centre of gravity upwards
And weigh no more than air as you alight upon me,
Stand upon me weightless, you phantom?
......
I love to hear thine earnest voice,
Wherever thou art hid,
Thou testy little dogmatist,
Thou pretty Katydid!
Thou mindest me of gentlefolks,-
Old gentlefolks are they,-
Thou say'st an undisputed thing
In such a solemn way.
Thou art a female, Katydid!
......
Death is like the insect
Menacing the tree,
Competent to kill it,
But decoyed may be.
Bait it with the balsam,
Seek it with the saw,
Baffle, if it cost you
Everything you are.
......