Lymantria dispar or why do you get to keep me?

Credits: Samantha Antonio Leong

Yesterday, I was lying in your oversized bed

Listening to the moths

Bang against your bedroom window

Reckless for light —

The Walmart purchased

Wattage a dirty orange tan

Of your bed side lamp that

You refuse to turn off

(I don’t want to be kept in the dark)

And at that instant moment

I hated you

For being so selfish

Too human

Why do you get to keep me?

Under your smile

Out of your sight

In your arms

When I don’t want to share you

Not even with sleep

—

I’m tired and I can’t fall asleep

I guess that’s what you call punishment

Because now all I can do is watch

You breathe inside your dreams

—

I wish I was outside with the moths

In the pale blue wings of the

Gypsy moth — striped in gold

Perhaps then I could understand why

Moths won’t fly away

And how they’re actually drawn

to the darkness of the light