What prey tell does the praying mantis yell
When his prayers fall helpless on the ears of the heartless
I was out in the yard and not having much regard
For the creatures in the shadows on the edge of the hedge
It’s a rose bush of sorts with a leafy spindly spool
That covers the wall by the pool and the mall of the patio
It was a sunny morning and I’d given them no warning
When I approached the thorny bush with my garden clippers at the ready
Had it been a normal day I might have decided not to stay
And instead chosen the electric hedge trimmer to do my dirty work
But for some divine intervention I pulled out the shear invention
And headed to the lowest point of the lush green hedge
And as I began to chop, slashing, shearing, tearing, romp
Through the thicket I could hear the crunch of every vine in the bunch
I must say it felt good like a hacker hacking wood
And I blindly slashed straight forward cutting everything in sight
Had it been a darker day, had it been a different way, or a just moment later
I might not have seen the courageous act of one hidden chameleon creature
He stood standing on the wreckage of a spindly thorn and faced me with a scorn
And he stared at me in disbelief as if his home had just been torn by my savagery
I stared back and then it hit me could there be a Preying family in there?
beneath the rubble of my devastating shearing could there be a family fearing?
I at once pulled back the thicket to look beneath the outer branches
And sure enough a female there and two small tykes climbing through the pikes
I released the open hedge and returned to face my judge, “Mr. Mantis”, I began
“You have saved your family clan, with an action so bold the story forever will be told”
And with that he’s in the thicket, his antenna searching for the bugs, for the
Mantis is my savior to devour the thugs who prey upon the green of my roses.
