A dozen beetles suddenly
are clustered on a leaf,
black with red designs
on their glistening backs
with six more farther
down the stem.
What can we say
we are seeing? Drops
of poison or a sweet
confection from
the spirit world? Pinpricks
on a lacquered base
or the blood
from an animal so long extinct
it has to bleed from
an adopted skin?
They shine in a manner
almost sinister, yet
the way they cling
to each other
suggests they have arrived
as a message conveyed
through space and time
as a warning to act
in the common interest
before it disappears.
Soon enough
they leave us wondering
what was here
with a gloss and such
delicate legs they must
have walked on light
to wherever they went.
David Chorlton is a transplanted European, who has lived in Phoenix since 1978. His poems have appeared in many publications on- and off-line, and reflect his affection for the natural world, as well as occasional bewilderment at aspects of human behavior. His most recent book, A Field Guide to Fire, was his contribution to the Fires of Change exhibition shown in Flagstaff and Tucson in Arizona.
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