THINGS I QUESTION

Photo by S. Auberle

THINGS I QUESTION

...how it might be to live as siblings

with beast and flower, not as oppressors"

~  Denise Levertov

the mosquito, the mud-dauber--

her snug home on my front door frame

the loathsome earwig

these I obliterate

with hardly a pause, yet

the Luna moth splattered

on my windshield

the red fox flattened

on the road

for these I grieve...

who made me judge and jury?

and why is it these creatures

we find despicable

though they are simply

going about their busyness

is it only beauty we revere?

or is it beauty--the loss of it

for which we mourn?

mimi