He/she landed on my living room window, and I was treated to a half-hour closeup of the beautiful green underside of this incredible bug. Every tiny detail, each saw-tooth on his leg, up close and personal.
He turned to look at me. His glistening eye met mine. Did he marvel, as did I? I took a picture, and he/she became an autumn silhouette against the ultramarine morning sky that hovered over my dying autumn garden. What are you thinking? Where are you going?
And why?
Are you Republican? Democrat? Have you arrived to guide my hand in filling out my absentee ballot?
My Chinese mother-in-law would have said you portend good fortune and auspicious times. Others might claim it foretells a time of prayer ahead.
And then there's that poem by OGDEN NASH . . .
From whence arrived the praying mantis?
From outer space, or lost Atlantis?
glimpse the grin, green metal mug
that masks the pseudo-saintly bug,
Orthopterous, also carnivorous,
And faintly whisper, Lord deliver us.
Comments