Even then, I was mesmerized
by your iridescent color.
And I’m not sure that I believed
what my mother said was true.
Looking back,I can suppose
it was one of those days
when I had already asked her
a hundred questions before
I pointed to one of your kind
and asked her what it was was.
I’m almost embarrassed to tell you.
But she said it was a sewing bug
and that its one and only mission
was to stitch up children’s mouths
so they would never speak again.
My friends and I would scream
and run from your species
as you darted among us in our play.
If my mother’s ploy was to silence us,
I guess she failed. But today
when I see you, I smile, remembering,
and you seem to shine all the more
for the doubled joy you bring.