Hey, Dragonfly.
Are you like me,
Both a dragon and a fly?
Are you immersed in thought
About the busy nature of the world about you?
Do you hope to escape the birds flying in the sky,
Mr Green Dragonfly?
We're nothing like Ms. Bronze over there
Fluttering about this early,
Foolish enough to stand out in late spring.
We do our work within the weeks and weeds.
We're brilliant,
But we're dangerously alike in subtle being.
So Greeny,
If you're so smart,
Why do you go to the pavement to sleep?
Does a part of you love terrible risk?
Hey Mr. Dragonfly,
Do you wonder about your next meal
Or have you any dreams?
No! Don't fly away my Dragonfly.
I thought we were a team.
I don't want to hurt you.
Look! I'm barely a breeze.
<<Exasperated Sigh…>>
Bye-bye brother dragonfly
See you soon, invisible in the weeds.
©2020 by Ayo Okikiolu.
Context:
I wrote this during the summer of 2020 in the midst of the pandemic after a long day of lawn mowing and summer classes. I noticed a dragonfly flying alone without a care in the world. If I could speak to it and it understood me, what would I say? So the poem was born.
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