Art Heifetz

Like my useless cousin
The cockroach
I´ve been around forever
a perfect combination
of poise and power
hovering over the river
for millenia
darting up and down
forward and backward
at breakneck speeds.
The legend I was once a dragon
is patently false
yet I can crush the largest moth
with my mandibles
and gobble up my weight
faster than you polish off a snack.

Women envy my iridescence
men my purity and sense of purpose.
My 360 vision enables me to see
beyond the mundane.
Some cultures believe
I can weigh souls
or sew up the mouths of
cursing fools.
And yet for all that
my adult life is shorter than
the briefest spring.
So perhaps my real message is
to live without regrets
to seize the day
and bite the wind.