an agitated ladybug lands on your knee. she spins and dances like a sufi in meditation. she pauses and stares at you. she gets impatient and beats her wing-covers. it takes several beats to break you out of your trance.
“oh, hello. sorry, i was greatly enjoying your dance. it’s a wonderful day, isn’t it?”
she doesn’t speak exactly but somehow her thoughts seep in. she’s amazed to be here. she’s happy but isn’t questioning it—well, too much.
You join in her rejoicing of summer. She is excited about the smell of dirt, the sweetness of aphids. She praises the heat and thawing.
“I know what you mean,” you say. And you tell her about your day. About how
You were rudely and unwillingly woken up this morning. It was quite alarming. There was something wrong, but you couldn’t figure out what it was. There were these things floating all around. You sat up in bed and huddled in the corner pulling the blankets up around you. The floating thing were streaked with light. It slowly became clear. The sun was out!
You leap up and pull on your summer clothes. You rush outside, banging your toes and shins on tables and chairs. You yank open the front door and the sun hits you in the eyes. You’re blind and stunned and stumble out into an explosion of colors and heat. You’re awed and relieved to be alive.
You head to the park and watch the sky brighten. A pale yellow swatch nibbles away the grey. Wisps of clouds are still lingering around but, little by little, they break up and fade into pale blue.
Rustling leaves dance overhead. A gradient of heat and cold swirls over your skin. You feel the formless shadows take shape and mingle and swarm, and fade back into formlessness.
The dirt is warm and moist under your hands. You dig at small roots and you grind rough pebbles into your fingertips. The smell of a living earth is reminiscent of another time…
Where sheep graze on the next hill over
And the grass tickles the back of your knees. You brush it away and suddenly there’s a dark red ladybug from childhood when all ladybugs were still vivid and bold.
With that the ladybug leaps into a current and is swept aloft and away.