As though they were memory

The pond I pass every now and again was cleared recently thus restoring an expanse of clear water for the benefit of birds and insects. (Unless this is done ponds get choked by reeds and weeds.) I was pleased to capture this ruddy darter in my lens. It's a male - the female's abdomen is golden.

The American poet W.S.Merwin wrote this lament for the lost  dragonflies of an imaginary future (which has already arrived for many other species). Merwin was himself a conservationist who replanted  thousands of acres destroyed by the pineapple industry on the island of Maui where he lived. He died last year at the age of 91.

After the Dragonflies
Dragonflies were as common as sunlight
hovering in their own days
backward forward and sideways
as though they were memory
now there are grown-ups hurrying
who never saw one
and do not know what they
are not seeing
the veins in a dragonfly’s wings
were made of light
the veins in the leaves knew them
and the flowing rivers
the dragonflies came out of the color of water
knowing their own way
when we appeared in their eyes
we were strangers
they took their light with them when they went
there will be no one to remember us