Carpet Beetles

 

There once was a beetle
Whose eye was a needle
Quick as a darner 
And quicker to seem
A wool wick to any 
Who’d ever believe
She’d choose to cleave 
Her ends a frayed
In efforts to debraid
The common flax 
Of gunnysacks
That bellow flambé 
Lamp lighting 
Illuminating 
The tying so trying 
She’d forget which side 
Was seam and which was stride
Knit one, pearl two
A paradox for hoister’s slaves
Of oyster’s laves
Washing out the beetle bonnet
Sifting through the hair nets 
For rattling teeth
Pink gums
That dare to masticate and 
In annoyance 
Build a nacre 
Nascence such a fleeting virtue
Before we all become
A calico in quilt’s brocade
Pearls turning themselves to jade
Jealous of jewels spun from the paste
And never realizing 
What we had
Until too late
For who crochets the chaff 
And expects it 
To emerge from the fire 
Intact?
Who folds a thousand threads
To wicks 
And thinks they won’t be burned by it?
Life is but 
Equal parts
Weaving and unraveling