Decision

Yellow-banded Wasp Moth 4
Large view
Is it a wasp or is it a moth? Is it black or is it orange? Decisions, decisions.

Yellow-banded Wasp Moth, Syntomeida ipomoeae, Family Arctiidae (Tiger Moths). This species ranges through Florida and Georgia. Says Bugguide.Net, "Adults fly at least April to October (perhaps all year) in Florida." This little one was feeding on lantana outside the library on Friday.

My submission to Bugguide is a first for this species. (Grin.) Thanks to John and Jane Balaban for the ID. Robin McLeod created the new guide page.

For Sunday Scribblings. Theme: "Decision."

“We are not doers, but deciders. Once our decision is clear, the doing becomes effortless, for then the universe supports and empowers our actions.” -- Ralph Blum, The Book of Runes.

Oscillations

Our leaders tossed a coin and tempted fate.
Blind and deaf, the gods ignored our pleas
While our people froze, wracked with doubt,
Our land in paralysis.
No one could tame the fear
Choking every move,
Error's spectre.
Then a child
Just said,
"Choose."

"Oh."
Ice split.
The town thawed
And creaked to life.
Pressing into fog,
We fought through our malaise,
Knowing that we could be damned
For making the wrong decision.
So many choices, so much to lose,
So much to gain in a moment of risk.

One random act unravels tapestries.
Lifelines fall away. Existence stops.
An insect dies beneath a thumb
Or suffers the doomed, webbed turn.
Something dies. Something lives.
A body at rest
Remains at rest.
One decides
To move.
Go.

Now?
Right place
But wrong time.
Everything shifts.
A new path opens:
Plan B. Plan C. Plan X.
Courage instilled by blind faith
Or by an itch, a drive, a need.
We pare desire down to the bone
Until all that remains is readiness.

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This form is a variant of one called Count Up (referenced in this list of poetic forms). Stanzas alternate, decreasing or increasing by one syllable per line, ten syllables down to one and then one up to ten, then repeating the pattern.

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