Out of the Moment, into the Sky

They're amusing, those who hold
Up house pets and small children

As role models of tranquil
Minds. To be sure, they're here, now,

When happiness absorbs them,
But likewise for misery,

The end of which will never
Occur to them as they howl.

And, for the moment, why not
Rhapsodize this jewel-green fly

Pinging, steadily, against
The near-clear, fly-flecked windshield

Of a car parked by a stream
With all the windows open

In cattle-country, in spring?
When a fly does find its way

Into homily, it serves
As illustration of sin

And confusion. The system
May hold reincarnation

Or eternal damnation
As givens. The lowly fly,

Dung and carrion lover,
Buzzes to point a moral.

But look at this lovely thing.
If too stupid to escape,

It knows what escape looks like,
And persists, persists, persists.