The summer was balmy
And the air hung like Indian muslin.
A somnolent lethargy overtook me
As I lay in my hammock
By the pond, hidden among weeds,
Whose surface shone speckled
By water’s sheen breaking through pondscum.
A sudden stir in the air above pond,
A glimmer of irridiscent colors!
A dragonfly was flitting upon the pond,
Transparent wings flashing colors
From metallic patches-
Red, brown, yellow, blue .
Helicoptering above, it lit
Upon a lily pad, compound eyes swirling
Its encircling globular vision searching,
A predator seeking prey.
But Fate decrees its tragic moments.
The unwary dragonfly foolishly forgot
The predator in the shallows.
A sudden splash and whiplike motion!
A bullfrog leapt up mouth opening,
Flicking its long and sticky tongue out,
And captured the hapless dragonfly.
Thus marked the end
Of a predator by a predator.