Dragonfly
Waterbound for years,
You move sluggish and slow
Eating and preparing
For your second birth.
–
The stoop is swept
the laundry done
Your shell hung out to melt,
And timidly, boldly,
You rise until new,
Air-born,
No luggage but gossamer,
Dark-bright, watery eyes,
mirroring brighter unfamiliar Sun –
bathing and drying your wings
which carry you up
into this new world of light and freedom.
–
You conqueror of space,
fairy queen of the skies –
Radiant, delicate, living joy
Trapped only by time.
Higher and brighter with each sunrise,
Each moment a glory,
a resolute queen
granting royal incandescence.
–
Yet on the twenty-first night,
Moon gently caresses
earth-bound, resting Queen,
Knowing the Icarus wings
will burn with the dawn.
–
Shaking off moonlight
you last ascend,
Fiery in flight,
a manic spark
soaring above the fire.
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