Dragonflies Over My Pond

In my garden is a clean little pond Fructified by tadpoles besides tiny fish Where water lilies bloom by day White and violet, a lovely sight Over it hover pairs of dragonflies They come in plenty on summer days When the day is bright, soon after morn To lay their eggs on lily pads Like helicopters, they skim up and down With their tiny propellers coming down Sometimes like surfers over the aqua blue, Perform rare feats, with brisk movements Their filmy gossamer wings glistening in sunlight And their bulging eyes reflecting iridescent shades If ever we try to catch one…., sensing danger They would rocket up, as fleeting flashes of light, Into the air…. gliding and spiraling In my sixties, whenever I spot a dragonfly My mind catches up with those memories When as children we chased them, 'hush hush' Trying to trap them while they perched on a fence or pole How delighted we were holding them in our fingers As they helplessly shivered thrumming their filmy wings! Making them lift small stones double their weight In their quivering thread like hands, a huge task for them, Had been our greatest thrill then…! Were we sadists…… I still wonder!