You sit so still all day...

You sit so still all day,

Only to pray - or appear to pray

For food to come your way.

Be at peace, nature cares,

your fears will soon be gone.

Six legs you have, four you use most,

unblinking, unyielding,

you wait all day for a something to come your way.

I'll offer a few thoughts about where this little tidbit came from.

I've loved insects pretty much my entire life, but while my love of them is strong, my aversion to chemicals is sadly stronger - I simply cannot deal with strong chemicals, and as such could not choose entomology as a profession, only a hobby. In junior high, I wanted to test the intelligence of what I think is the most fascinating insect I've ever encountered: the Praying Mantis, tragically, the egg sack I had at the time simply didn't hatch, so I settled to testing ladybugs, earning a bronze medal on the project. As an adult, particularly this summer, I encountered several of my favorite bugs in Mom's rose garden in the front yard. Most have already passed on of natural causes - including the ones my brother caught who all happened to be female and thus causing me to joke about him catching a harem, to his wife's annoyance - the one that remains, I caught on one of the roses and so she is named Rose. She resides in the toads' former 10 gallon tank with a transplanted weed from the yard and a few cut up egg cartons from the crickets the toads get from time to time. She doesn't care that the weed is dead - she climbs it anyway. The real surprise came last month when I woke up one morning to find she'd given me a gift: an egg sack. Of course I joked saying that she thought October 14th is April Fool's day, but I was overjoyed just the same. This six-legged triumph of nature is giving me another chance to hatch an egg sack.

The mantis has always fascinated me. Without the need to perform the test I did on the ladybugs, I can tell they're incredibly intelligent insects. Not on a human level, I grant you, but on a much deeper level that humans seem to have lost touch with, I think. I love watching her, even when she's just sitting still.

So to Rose, I dedicate to you, a wonderful little thought that's true:

You inspire my heart,

you inspire my love

you inspire my creativity from above.

Your silly antics of attempted escape

do not dim my love of you.

The way you feel your way around,

makes one think you to be blind

I know better, you're not blind,

simply feeling with your feet.

You think with your instincts, I with my heart,

I wish you could always be a part

of my life, my wonderful Rose.

When you pass on, you will live on

in the little ones you leave with me...

All 200 or so, I'm told.