TheBanyanTree: ladybugs V

[Mike Pingleton]

what has become of last year's
crop of hard candies,
the very air awhirl with their
red and orange engines?
this year's cooling air is clear,
and as october flies away
a wretched few huddle
around the candles of houses.
did summer's drought drink them dry,
did birds take sudden note, was
there a click in some hidden clockwork?
either oblivion beckons,
or the ebb of a pulse awaits
the next swing,
next spring.