Dogday Cicadas…
annual,
periodical-
13 years, 17 years-
underground
sucking on a tree taproot
emerging for just a few weeks,
sometimes just a few days,
to sing and mate and die…
their song swells and hums,
at times overpowering all of nature.
To my ears,
in their unending midsummer chorus,
they sound like life.
Met this little guy the other night as he was coming out of his shell. No filter, no edit. Taken with my iPhone.
Cicada Killers…
wasp-like, predator
hunting cicadas upon Emergence,
poison sting paralyzes.
dragging to underground lair
through the dirt to the birthing chamber
laying their eggs inside the paralyzed live body
of the dogday cicada.
eggs hatch
on live immobile cicada, larvae feed.
to my eyes
seeing them,
images of
death and destruction.
To you, who is the Cicada? Who or what is the Cicada Killer? I’m fascinated to hear from you below in the comments section!
(My thanks to the University of Illinois Extension for their extensive entomology research in the Midwest! For more information about the cicada life cycle, click here.)
Emergence Part two
The cicada killer is Satan. Just as the cicada came out of its shell, here comes Satan, reaching out and paralyzing the new cicada with deadly eggs of doubt, disappointment and discouragement. The eggs hatch and the new larvae, demons as they are, feed on the new cicada, eating away at the salvation, repentance, and love given by the King. Some new cicadas break away from the demons. The Holy Spirit was strong within them as they attended church services regularly, reading their bibles and conversing with God. Those were the saving graces that counter-acted the paralyzing poison of the cicada killers. Go, you devil, you cicada killer, back to the muck and the mire you came from!
Love it!
To me cicadas represent the season. The season of change and transition. So many changes, new schools, new teachers, new empty chair at the dinner table…..Their humming sound is a reminder of the change to come. My cicada killers are busy schedules, client phone calls,….We struggle to savor the humming tune and season change, because we are too busy to stop and enjoy.
Kathy, this is beautiful!! Those are my cicada killers, too…
Leigh, I believe that all of us who have given our lives to Christ are cicadas. In the dirt, feeding on anything to make us feel alive. Then Jesus pulls us up out of the dirt and we throw off that dirty, hard, tough shell of our old selves and put on the new brilliant body of our new selves. We are on this earth for such a short time, as the cicadas are, so I intend to die to self and give my life as a sacrifice! (See? I told you I wasn’t a blogger ?❤
Great thoughts! What else do you see? What about the Cicada Killers?