I was walking in from feeding the chickens the other day and spotted a praying mantis hanging out on the wall near the back door. In all the years I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen a mantis around my house, so I took it as a positive sign.
Later, when I was looking at the photos I took, I realized just how alien it looks. And while it has wonderful camouflage and appears to fit in, it could just as well have recently landed in a spaceship from another world.
Terrestrial or alien?
Or something from beyond?
A strange little creature
How will it respond
If I tried to communicate?
Should I speak or try to sign?
Is it here on a peaceful mission
Or does it have other designs
On the human race
I really must be sure
To find out what it wants with us
Our planet must be secure
From alien invasion
Oh wait, what’s it doing now?
Eating those pesky aphids
Well, this I can allow!
Thank you, Mr. Mantis
I appreciate your stay
Feel free to dine around the yard
I won’t get in your way.
Do you have a favorite insect?
RB
They do look alien, for sure! How fun to have one visit and work hard on pest control for you!
I feel very lucky that it showed up. I’m in favor of all-natural pest control! 🙂
Absolutely, me too!
I haven’t seen a praying mantis in many years. Seems to me that there’s never been an abundance of them.
I wonder if it’s due to small numbers or that they are just so good at camouflage. If this one hadn’t been sitting on the red brick, I never would have noticed him.
I had to have a think about this. I rather like ladybirds.
I do, too, Sheree. Also beneficial to the garden and lovely to look at. 🙂
True
I have only seen one praying mantis in my 1 acre garden in the past five years. Send some my way because I have an abundance of aphids in my large patch of kale.
I’ll put you on their docket, Jasper! I have some whiteflies I’m hoping they’ll eliminate soon.
Praying mantis almost look like the good angel version of the grasshopper or locust. They eat plants while so far as I know, the praying mantis eats insects.
You are correct, Pat! Praying Mantis eat caterpillars, aphids, and all sorts of garden pests. I hope he/she will stick around!
Oh wow, now you mention it!
I definitely believe in creatures from other planets, but I don’t think they actually look green with big eyes.
I don’t know whoever described them that way, but I guess it stuck with society.
Despite my skeptism, It’s how I think of aliens too 😄
You’re poem is perfectly playful too! Maybe they are minature aliens!
I have a lot of respect for ants. Talking about teamwork, excellent leadership and employees being aware of their tasks!
Also, the word “ladybug” makes me curious. I thought about the translation in different languages.
In Dutch it’s called “lieveheersbeestje” which, if you do so litterally, could be translated as “sweet gentleman/lord animal”. 🤭
In some other languages it seems to refer to a version of the name “Mary”.
Languages are certainly interesting too!
LOL…quite the response, Andrea!
Personally, I think alien life is going to look like nothing we can imagine. Weird, wonderful, and totally alien!
And ants are the coolest, except when they’re on my kitchen counter. 🙂
I’m not sure if I can pronounce “lieveheersbeestje”. I tried to, but I think I sprained my tongue! I love that translation, though.
Haha, I can blab a bit sometimes 🤭
Oh yes, Dutch is a crazy language. I was lucky to learn it at a young age, but since it isn’t spoken by many countries in the world, it’s a bit useless 😅