A praying mantis snacks
on a little butterfly
holding it like a taco
munching headfirst
and I wonder
should I have shooed
the butterfly away
and let the mantis
go hungry
or was it right
to stand aside
and let sweet nature
show its ugly face
on a yellow daisy
one day in the fall?
_________________
This is a Hamlet moment. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune have made yon yellow butterfly shuffle off this mortal coil.
What would you have done? Go ahead, sit in judgment of my existential angst.
This is also a Flash 55 Friday. To tell a tale in 55 words, no more, no less (I asked once), post it on your blog and run tell G-Man. It's posted a day late because I lost Friday among my earrings.
I've lost a whole day. I didn't realize it was Friday until my therapist called my cell and said, "Where are you?" I live in discombooberated time. I'm supposed to be the consummate professional writer, but damn, I lost a day. It didn't even hurt.
17 comments:
I would have said...Kind of hard to hate anything in nature that is doing what it was designed to do, Both predator and prey fulfill a vital function.
Course you could have intervened and killed the mantis too. But then it's function as a garden ridder of pests would also be inhibited eh?
It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature!
The right choice was made!
Excellent 55 Chris...
Thanks for finally posting this interesting little tale..:P
I loved this! Please have a Great Week-End...G
The use of 55 words was just the right thing for this poem. Not one word more and not one word less would have done.
I think you were right, although I would have been tempted to shoo the mantis away, too. Then I think, who am I to interfere with the ways of nature?
maybe you can make up for that day today. yesterday was such a wonderful day i could have lived in it forever. i really like your 55...as man we want to get our hands in everything, control and all, but nature has come before us and will continue on...things will happen and our illusions will crumble...have a great saturday!
I would have let the butterfly get eaten... unless the praying mantis had already feasted. Actually, I try not to insert myself into what goes on in nature. Nature is balanced and I'm not.
All I could hear in my head was, "Crunch...crunch..crunch". But then, I never claimed my brain was wired right. :-D GREAT 55 even if I grimaced. I would have chased the butterfly away. That is why I go to alanon...
Namaste
Perhaps the butterfly is actually one of the type who's progeny is harmful to the garden. Nature will have its way--the circle of life and all. Perhaps the beautiful butterfly would have done more harm alive.
Things have a way of working themselves out in nature.
Ha! I lost your day on Thursday....
maybe you lost 2!
Oh My! The Einstei quote for the day was perfect..... And empty stomach, political advisor.... and were you hungry also? You have to save this post and put it in a book with the quote someday, TOO SERENDIPITOUS.
love you,
Di
I allow consequences to be a teacher. Hope another butterfly was watching.
What a great opportunity for you to be so Zen as to just watch nature happen. Paying attention to small actions isn't something all can do.
I would have allowed this to happen and turned my head. It may be what nature intended, but I don't necessarily have to like or look at it.
Neat 55.
PG
I guess it comes down to "eat or be eaten". I think most of us would've let nature take it's course...and grimaced. :)
Interesting tale.
As people say stuff happens. whoooray for the praying mantis, he is granted another day or maybe even longer, but eventualy his turns coming.
West Side Gangsta's
You lost a day and it didn't hurt. Good. You are getting close to total freedom.
About the butterfly and the mantis? We are already interfering in ways beyond recoil.
oh i don't know... i am so torn when i see this kind of thing. and then i stand back. nature has a purpose we may not agree with or understand, but they sure don't destroy the world like we so, so maybe they're right...
When I read you had lost Friday amongst the earings, I pictured something made of amber with a trapped insect on display. Must have been the yellow flowers.
I felt that way during Christmas, not knowing what day it was. It wasn't a bad thing.
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