Ted Harriott
Better than Butterflies
They waft across the summer garden flowerscape,
The jewelled confetti of the gods,
As aimless and indeterminate as
The aerodynamically unsound bumblebee
And even less capable of flight, science says,
Until the sun on their wings
As they vaunt their short-lived glory,
Makes them warmer than the air around them
So that they rise like hot air balloons ...
No not a bit like hot air balloons.
They are, we're told,
An ultimate demonstration of pointlessness.
These painted symbols of idleness
Have but a month to sup the nectar lazily
From the devil's spoons of their tongues
And mate on the warm air,
With no fear of soaring to the sensuous heights,
For no better purpose
Than to ensure next year's crop of
Bright dancers of the sunshine.
We are, of course, superior to the Red Admiral
With all our wars and plots,
Our subtleties and conspiracies,
Our power plays without glory.
For do we not take years longer
In the discovery
That our only useful purpose here
Is to ensure
The continuance of our species
In our earthbound mating dances.
Page(s) 45
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