Suicide moth
with the brains of a doth
you are banging away at the screen
It is night time outside
and it’s a full lunar tide
Whether you’ll live remains to be seen
the rain’s pouring down
on your face like a clown
makes you look like an eerie dark green
I peer at your face
right out there in space
and wonder why nature is harsh and so mean
you’re banging away
with wings beating in fray
to the light you seem to be keen
why don’t you give up
There is glass is in the cup
the knowledge of which surely you glean
but seemingly not
you don’t seem to stop
that banging away at the screen
I bid you goodnight
and close blinds out of sight
of that light from which your life is so lean
you would think you would learn
light also can burn
and charcoal can tarnish the sheen
created 2008
It rained today for the first day since we moved to the farm. Tonight I was sitting on my bed looking out the window when a Bogong moth similar to the one above that I snapped on the front door a minute ago, decided to keep me fascinated by the way he kept trying to get through the glass window into the bedroom to the light.
It was so funny, Kahleah was sitting on the bed with me and I said to her “look at the fairy on the window”.
She walked up with a puzzled expression on her face (up to now she hasn’t actually “seen” the fairies we play with) and she peered at the window close up. She took a step back, looked at me, looked back at the moth and did a double take, peering closer again.
She then turned to me with a look of consternation on her face and said “its a yucky looking one isn’t it mummy”.
I laughed and laughed. I then explained it was a big moth. The wing span from tip to tip was about ten centimetres and the body length was about 6 cm long.
She asked me if I could open the window to get a better look as he was hanging on the insect screen. When I opened the window she again peered at it up close, examining it with fascination.
Glen leaned forward and said, look you can scratch it on it’s tummy and he gave it’s tummy a bit of a rub through the screen. She then reached up and touched it through the screen and gently patted it’s tummy with a look of complete awe on her face.
When I closed the window we sat there and watched the moth for ages, just continually beat itself against the window in it’s futile effort to get to the light.
One again nature and my little girl inspired me to write this poem. Hope you enjoy.
The Bogong Moth
The moths are huge and apparently edible. You notice I say apparently. I don’t see them on my menu in the near or distant future. I live in south East Queensland which is their breeding ground.
Postscript.
As I am posting this Glen spoke up from behind me at the dining table where he was watching me post the blog. We were having a coffee before bed and he said “Here you are the cats got one now”
Sure enough I turned around and the cat had presented one to Glen at his feet. I grabbed the camera as Glen grabbed the cat and it flew into the kitchen. The cat got away from Glen and sat there eyeing the moth. Glen took the cat to the sleepout while I rescued the moth and put him outside.
When Glen walked back in he said “All that effort and there’s a bird outside that is probably thanking us for dinner about now.
Well at least he didn’t end up the cat’s dinner.. tonight anyway.…
Icarus
