I used to be

frightened of dragonflies

until my husband

clued me in on

how good they are

for the ecosystem

eating mosquitoes

across the lakes

and such

but dragonflies represent

the horror of growing up

for me

how adulting brings

the innocence of

childhood to

an undeniable halt

I could feel the weight

of adult realms compressing

me into a condensed

little consumer all

pre-progammed and 'waiting'

for further conditioning

like an automaton

And me remaining in

a doe-eyed stance for

pretty much the

rest of my life