The Cycle of Cicadas

A poem

it’s a cicada invasion this year
the south’s summer symphony
a high afternoon crescendo
exoskeleton replicas on the porch steps
emerging nymphs seem the ghosts
haunting our deciduous forests
perhaps the loudest mating species
of a seventeen year cycle
but maybe this is their swan song
cicadas sing near the end of life
after nesting in the earth
for several human phases
before becoming parents or food
once again…