The Submerged Life
The dragonfly, unlike us, is a child
through most of life, surviving under water
for years. She learns the lessons of the wild
while molting many times. This process taught her
to recognize the right time to submerge,
the time to lift her head above the surface,
to gather wings and courage, then emerge.
Her time under the rocks is quite a preface
to a grown-up life so brief, it’s here and gone.
She finds a partner and mates him while she flies,
then lays her eggs, and rises with the dawn
on iridescent wings, and soon, she dies.
The dragonfly, unlike us, is aware
that life flies on fast wings, no time to spare.
Diane Elayne Dees‘s poetry has been published in many journals and anthologies. Diane, who lives in Covington, Louisiana, also publishes Women Who Serve, a blog that delivers news and commentary on women’s professional tennis throughout the world. Diane’s chapbook, I Can’t Recall Exactly When I Died, is forthcoming from Clare Songbirds Publishing House.
