Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Moths: Masters of Camouflage and Mimicry (Part 1)

Dr Abe V Rotor  
Art of Camouflage 
Your artful disguise 
makes you invisible and free;  
Nature's given prize
of camouflage and mimicry.
Kite Moth
It is not only that birds follow the sun
that the sky is filled with colors and laughter;
it is your body symmetry copied for fun,
that children believe they own the sky
and make imagination their best teacher,
even in their dreams to fly.
STOL Moth
If your wings are for short takeoff and speed,
and your long antennae and infrared eyes 
defy the darkness of night, then I believe
someone has copied you in steel that flies. 
Jade Moth
If I freeze your beauty
and wear it on my heart,
I rob Nature, her grace apart; 
a star dies, so with art.
False Eyes
Whose eyes these are, real or just mask?
Why grotesque and cold, the children ask?
Unmoved, you simply sleep and wait 'til dawn,
and they ask again if they were your own.  
Stealth Moth
Man copied you but for another purpose;
peace and quiet you live, his intent is not,
but to rule the sky fiery by day and night; 
cheer up, for imitation will never be right.  
Falcon Moth
You are on the ceiling all alone
and the toad looking up
thinks of you a falcon;
in make-believe it's good to be up
with reverse role as predator;
everything's prey on the floor. 
Footprint Moth
If these two sets of footprints
lead to opposite directions, 
did you depart when  I needed you most?
What goodness did I lack?
"My child, you were alone 
and lost and I brought you back."
Hidden Mirror on the Wall
No, it's not Paleolithic painting,
but hidden mirror on the wall:
Bless you creature in slumber waiting 
the light of the world to fall,
then seek a beacon in the night
where a pen draws its might.
Atlas Moth
Thought you could put one on Hercules,*
from the burden of the world you're free; 
so thought too, the dinosaurs in spree;
bigness is no guarantee no less;

birds fly on wings and hollow bones,
flies need not four wings but two,
none but the water strider glides best - 
be humble, bigness is weakness, too.  

* In Greek mythology, Atlas played trick on Hercules to take 
over him carry the globe; but Hercules was smarter, 
and the task fell back on poor Atlas.  

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