In the Amazon there's a moth who lives by drinking the night-tears of sleeping birds.
By day she's folded asleep deep in green minarets where purple frogs sweat pearls of poison.
If she dreams, it's only by accident. At dawn the birds fly up, eyes opened by song, tears given
without intent or knowledge as I give mine, silver life to the mouths of memories.
March, 2024
Gorgone macarea is the moth referred to here, one of several species of Lepidoptera who practise lacrophagy for survival. This poem is written in the 55 form{55 words used)