#mayfly
i wish i was young as a mayfly
and my wings didnt break
and love wouldn't die
to play in the seaside smooth-stones
with my brother as little
as a needle-eye
he was when i collected them,
he helped with the buckets
we concocted secret plans
of scientists and rockets
theres a washed up driftwood
where we seeked and hid
there must have been something
to leave the woody gap
in the woods in me
the lack
now i feel like i'm seaglass
from a pitcher never filled
or crashed against others like me
i crave and i repress
the futile social alchemy
Aug 8, 2025
Aug 8, 2025 at 2:16 PM UTC
Behold, I emerge from my slumber,
ready for the fluttering touch of another.
Who shall dance to the death with me?
Who shall fall in their peak to the voyeuristic sea,
and tuck themselves in 'neath the slobbering tongues
of the little fishies starving for the tastes of the young
that I gave my life to create.
They'll never get a chance to appreciate
all that I've sacrificed for the cause.
The world carries on, no grief and no pause.
All in a day's work, no thanks for the mother
who lives just to die for the meeting of another.
Mar 7, 2023
Mar 7, 2023 at 10:34 PM UTC
Mayflies live for hours
Fitting life into a day
What if it's raining?
Oct 11, 2020
Oct 11, 2020 at 5:37 PM UTC
Dwindling, spiraling, running out
Life is naught but a mayfly
No time but now
Yesterday, the only guarantee
But for a mayfly, there is no yesterday
And tomorrow is already out of the question
Yesterday and tomorrow
Mean nothing to the mayfly
And so we live today
Hummmmm
Goes the heart of the mayfly
Beating tirelessly, loving endlessly
Each indiscernible thump
Exuding the rich melody of life
Until it stops
And we return to dust
But oh! How passionately our hearts did beat!
Intoxicated by the pure joy of being
How could we be wrenched away
From the moments we shared
The moments we called trivial and routine that
We now romanticize
The mayfly lives for five minutes
The mayfly lives for the moment
The man lives for 79 years
The man lives for tomorrow
Until there are no more tomorrows
Until the cumulation of every unfulfilled dreams and desire
Come crashing down like a great wave and
We return to the dust
The mayfly has no tomorrow
The man needs not tomorrow
Dwindling, spiraling, running out
Life is naught but a mayfly
Jul 27, 2020
Jul 27, 2020 at 11:59 PM UTC
Mayflies
by Michael R. Burch
These standing stones have stood the test of time
but who are you
and what are you
and why?
As brief as mist, as transient, as pale ...
Inconsequential mayfly!
Perhaps the thought of love inspired hope?
Do midges love? Do stars bend down to see?
Do gods commend the kindnesses of ants
to aphids? Does one eel impress the sea?
Are mayflies missed by mountains? Do the stars
regret the glowworm’s stellar mimicry
the day it dies? Does not the world go on
as if it’s no great matter, not to be?
Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose.
And yet somehow you’re everything to me.
Originally published by Clementine Unbound. Keywords/Tags: mayfly, mayflies, time, mist, transient, transience, pale, inconsequential, stars, sea, everything, A. E. Housman quote
Apr 8, 2020
Apr 8, 2020 at 2:06 AM UTC
briefling
by michael r. burch
manishatched,hopsintotheMix,
cavorts,hassex(quick!,spawnanewBrood!);
then,likeamayfly,he’ssuddenlygone:
plantfood
NOTE: Here “briefling” is a dimunutive of “brief” and also a pun on “brief fling.” Keywords/Tags: brief, fling, man, hatched, hops, mix, *** spawn, brood, mayfly, plant food
Mar 31, 2020
Mar 31, 2020 at 6:22 AM UTC