The Magnificent Mayflies [March 26th | 73/365]

Maggie the Mayfly
woke up one morning
alive
and wondered
what that meant,

so she asked her mother,
but her mother was dead
(though her mother had died
with her huge fly eyes open,
so Maggie the Mayfly
could not tell).

After several hours of silence passed,
Maggie the Mayfly asked her father
about being alive,
but the conversation was just
the same.

So Maggie the Mayfly
asked a stranger
who was also a mayfly,
"Stranger?
What does it mean that I'm 'alive?'"
and the stranger,
who was also alive,
said, "I was going to ask you the same question."
And Maggie the Mayfly said,
"That's funny."
And they sat there in silence
for several hours,

and then they mated,
and Maggie became pregnant,
and then Maggie died.

But before she died,
Maggie gave birth
to Melanie--
Melanie the Mayfly.

Melanie the Mayfly
woke up one morning
alive
and wondered
what that meant,

so she asked Maggie,
but Maggie was dead
(though Maggie had died
with her huge fly eyes open,
so her daughter, Melanie,
could not tell).

After several hours of silence passed,
Melanie the Mayfly asked her father
about being alive,
but the conversation was just
the same.

So Melanie the Mayfly
asked a stranger
who was also a mayfly,
"Stranger?
What does it mean that I'm 'alive?'"
and the stranger,
who was also alive,
said, "I was going to ask you the same question."
And Melanie the Mayfly said,
"That's funny."
And they sat there in silence
for several hours,

and then they mated,
and Melanie became pregnant,
and then Melanie died.

But before she died,
Melanie gave birth
to Mallory--
Mallory the Mayfly.

Mallory the Mayfly
woke up one morning
alive
and wondered
what that meant,

so she asked Melanie,
but Melanie was dead
(though Melanie had died
with her huge fly eyes open,
so her daughter, Mallory,
could not tell).

After several hours of silence passed,
Mallorythe Mayfly asked her father
about being alive,
but the conversation was just
the same.

So Melanie the Mayfly
asked a stranger
who was also a mayfly,
"Stranger?
What does it mean that I'm 'alive?'"
and the stranger,
who was also alive,
said, "I was going to ask you the same question."
And Melanie the Mayfly said,
"That's funny."
And they sat there in silence
for several hours,

and then a giant hand came,
and Mallory and the stranger looked up
in the most reverent awe
that they would ever know,
for it was the last thing they ever saw,

and they knew, in that moment,
exactly what it was that they were doing.