Spring-Summer 2008

Keeping Watch

LeAnn Spencer

A deuce of caterpillars,
vivid in green with
bumblebee stripes,
roamed my parsley,
gorging on leaves
spiced with dill.

We left them alone
– except for twice daily
observations –
for two weeks
and bought our herbs at
farmers’ markets.

Then one morning,
they flinched at my gaze
and scuttled down
wobbly stems to shade.
I withdrew
and waited for sunset

but they had marched on,
needing a proper host
for winter transformation.
During cold season,
I looked for their pallid,
leaf-shaped capsules,

left my garden’s dry brush
standing: Shelter
for chrysalis and
mourning cloaks,
witness to the hardiness
of soft bodies, fragile

lives easy to squash
between thumb and forefinger
yet tough enough to
trump the bluster and blast
of weather and rise again
on parsley days.

Copyright © 2008 LeAnn Spencer. All rights reserved.