Echoes of Aesop’s fables for a September Saturday

Grasshoppers

Sitting by the side of the road

On the edge of town

At the end of summer

In the harvest dust

Catching gilded grasshoppers

Giggling at nature’s whimsies

Until our bodies ached

Repulsed by button black eyes

Rustling paperiness

As they flexed and contracted

Built up power

Triggered

Into a leap

Of brilliant wing

Flashes

Playing

While ants

Prepared for winter

“Grasshopper detail in Rachel Ruysch Flowers in a Vase c 1685” by Rachel Ruysch – http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/rachel-ruysch-flowers-in-a-vase. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grasshopper_detail_in_Rachel_Ruysch_Flowers_in_a_Vase_c_1685.jpg#/media/File:Grasshopper_detail_in_Rachel_Ruysch_Flowers_in_a_Vase_c_1685.jpg