Cicada births
Jul. 11th, 2005 01:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brightrosefoxLate late last night, Adam took me outside to see something on the wood fence. There was a newborn cicada, just out of the shell, its gossamer wings barely dry. And another one, just starting to break free. We stood there and watched and wished for a video camera.
There is really nothing more beautiful and more alien than watching true metamorphosis. I saw an insect crack open and unfurl, legs trembling, body vibrating. It was bright green and streaked with purple and blue. It hung, nearly freefall, perilous suspension, and we watched and waited (you almost want to help it), and then we went inside because I had to sleep. But later, Adam told me that he had gone out and found the new one lying on the ground legs flailing, and he became its insect god, and reached down with a stick so the weakened cicada could climb on, and Adam brought it back up to the wall.
This morning, when I left for work, both cicadas were gone, flown away (or perhaps eaten; such is life).
I wish we'd had a camera. This is what alien movies are based on. This is alien life, right here, bursting forth from an exoskeleton.
Chirp chirp.
I touched them, by the way. They feel like real gossamer, not even silk. There is no other sensation like it.
There is really nothing more beautiful and more alien than watching true metamorphosis. I saw an insect crack open and unfurl, legs trembling, body vibrating. It was bright green and streaked with purple and blue. It hung, nearly freefall, perilous suspension, and we watched and waited (you almost want to help it), and then we went inside because I had to sleep. But later, Adam told me that he had gone out and found the new one lying on the ground legs flailing, and he became its insect god, and reached down with a stick so the weakened cicada could climb on, and Adam brought it back up to the wall.
This morning, when I left for work, both cicadas were gone, flown away (or perhaps eaten; such is life).
I wish we'd had a camera. This is what alien movies are based on. This is alien life, right here, bursting forth from an exoskeleton.
Chirp chirp.
I touched them, by the way. They feel like real gossamer, not even silk. There is no other sensation like it.
