CICADAS

This is what they have waited for

Late summer, late afternoon

the woods are filled with their sound

A life cycle strange by our standards

years underground 

and then emergence

to shed a nymph skin

to find a mate

to reproduce

and die in a matter of weeks

It isn't sad if it is all they know

I tell myself

Hearing them I know that

this is what I have waited for

Late summer, late afternoon

to stand alone under this canopy of trees

my own current cycle concluding

wondering if I should try their tactic

emerge

shed my juvenile shell

and call to anyone who might hear

"help me perpetuate"