I found this little thing in the parking lot of a restaurant, on a rainy day, in April. Far away from any leaves and grasses where it should winter. Did it call unto me? I don't know.
My father taught me: Always look down, under your feet. Look where you are going. Today I looked down:
It was lying in a cold puddle, no bigger than a quarter. Tiny nubbins of its charcoal legs helplessly exposed, as I turned it from side to side, to see if its alive.
I picked this dark mass up by the single brick-red hair and brought it inside my car. I don't like this stage of Moth's development. I put it in a brown napkin, that instantly soaked up the water off of it's little curled body.
I sit behind the steering wheel, it sits in my cup holder, maybe looking back at me through delirium, maybe dead; and such sadness consumes me..
My red hope is banded with black despair: In May I might discover that it had passed on this very day in April, right before I heard it. But right now it is my Schrodinger's caterpillar, Whose mystery of life is concealed within the box of its soggy body, until May.
Do you ever hear the caterpillars? What if they talk to us, but we never look down, never lean in close enough to hear their tiny voices. What if we, like the tiny pillars, neck deep in cold waters, on the brink of life and death, call unto the divine giants passing through..
I am on the ground. The sun is refracting in the rain drop on the tip of the blade of grass. I look at the Isabella moth:
" What do you want to tell me today?"
"The pollen is sweet. The wind is kind.."
***
My mother taught me to always look up, at the road ahead. Look where you are going. Today I looked up:
The giants are passing. Their gargantuan limbs swinging slowly at their sides, summon winds. Their thunderous footsteps create new continents. Their thoughts create the rain, the life, the water that I swim in.
I look up at their fearsome magnitude compared to my little existence and I cry: I cry from awe, from anger, from electricity coursing through me:
"Hey!" I writhe exposing my belly "HEEEEY!" My arms waving, my voice breaking.
The giant stops in its stride. Split clouds trail behind Its head, exposing the face. Its eyes round and glowing, seeing my entire life for me.
***
How to attract moth to your garden:
Sugared Wine: Some moths are attracted to sugary treats. Soak strips of cloth in a mixture of cheap red wine and sugar, and hang them in your garden to attract moths.
Rotten Fruit: Overripe or rotten fruit can also attract certain moth species.
Stale Beer and Brown Sugar: Mix stale beer and brown sugar and paint it on a tree trunk to attract moths like Noctuids and Underwings.
***
About the Creator
Salomé Saffiri
Writing - is my purpose. I feel elated when my thoughts assume shapes, and turn into Timberwolves, running through the snowbound planes of fresh paper, leaving the black ink of their paw prints behind.
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Comments (1)
This is a surprising and deeply moving offering, Salome! It reminds me of a favorite passage from the sermon on mount: consider the lilies in the fields, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. I love it that you pay attention to the world around you. Even for the smallest!