Moth

Lymintria dispar dispar, the female flightless

Clinging white-winged to brown trunks

Easy prey

Drawing danger from her camouflaged egg mass

Doomed or blessed to die where she birthed

Never tasting weightlessness

And when the male returns

From his airy freedom

Does he inquire about her pallid solitude,

Looking always out at the wide, untouchable sky?

Or is it understood that

She remains 

As he left her