Hazel ettridge

Into the Blue

by Hazel ettridge

Wednesday 8th August 2018 12:10 pm

Squeezing out of the old skin

A shiney new start. Again.

Letting go of that life.

Letting go of that persona.

All is possibility and potential.

She wriggles forward. Predator.

Tries out a different mask.

She's been here before. Many times.

Casting off. Re-emerging.

Excitement. Monotony.

The larval stage can take years

And oh so many moults.

Then, one day, the sun shines bright.

It's time to go.

Reaching up through water into thin air,

Skin splitting, splintering

Wings spreading, see her rise.

The truth of who she is, who she has always been,

Through all the transformations,

Locked inside the body of a nymph.

Now released.

Dragonfly.

To live a few short days

In the light.

🌷🌷(12)

◄ For Stuart

Sink Hole ►

Comments

Hazel ettridge

Sat 11th Aug 2018 08:28

Stu, glad you enjoyed it.
Rachel - love the idea of gentle and catastrophic changes. I hadn't thought of it like that.

elPintor

Sat 11th Aug 2018 02:25

Hazel, I identify with this to my core. Some of us seem blessed to be able to travel along inside our skin with such gradual sheds that change is barely of note. But, there are others of us who must evolve through more catastrophic changes--we choose not only to endure, but to thrive.

Stu Buck

Fri 10th Aug 2018 09:40

this is excellent hazel. i hope it becomes POTW as it is well deserved.

Hazel ettridge

Thu 9th Aug 2018 08:42

Darren, David, Martin, Taylor, Jane - thank you so much for your comments. I'm happy this resonates with others. The dragonfly symbol means a lot to me and I have a dragonfly tattoo on my chest where, every time I look in the mirror, it acts as a reminder that this moment is the one I'm living.

<Deleted User> (19421)

Thu 9th Aug 2018 07:37

This is lovely Hazel, some wonderful lines and a fab ending.

Long live dragonflies and all of us who take their lead and live life to the full, all day, every day - doing it again and again.

Cheers

DJB

Martin Elder

Wed 8th Aug 2018 21:50

A beautiful poem Hazel, which for me started off as I read it as a metaphor for life in the way our lives can be so fragile. But that is just me
Interestingly I read somewhere that a mayfly only exists for one day in may when it hatches.
Anyway I love the poem

Taylor Crowshaw

Wed 8th Aug 2018 19:00

Hi Hazel, A wonderful piece. I found myself nodding all the way through. Yes I can relate.
Lovely. ?

<Deleted User> (19836)

Wed 8th Aug 2018 18:58

Encouraging! Gives hope that freedom, even if only for a while, will be hers. Love it! Thank you, Jane?

Hazel ettridge

Wed 8th Aug 2018 17:09

Kate - thank you very much.

Brian - they have found fossils of Dragonflies with 30 inch wing spans that are 325 million years old! Now that is amazing.

Frances - i have a very loose definition of 'a few short days'

Cynthia - Both! When I heard about the life cycle of the dragonfly I related immediately and decided it was time to stop forever re-inventing myself and to accept that this is who I am, this is what I do, these are my people, these are my places - it's time to stop and enjoy this and this and this.

Cynthia Buell Thomas

Wed 8th Aug 2018 15:29

Insightful, and sharply developed. Fact or a major metaphor? Or both?

Frances Macaulay Forde

Wed 8th Aug 2018 13:00

Hopefully more than a few short days, Hazel!
That's how I felt this second time around - very relateable poem and such a clever approach.

<Deleted User> (18980)

Wed 8th Aug 2018 12:15

I never knew that Hazel and being a sceptical bugger I just had to look it up.

Very informative, and well written.

<Deleted User> (19913)

Wed 8th Aug 2018 12:13

WOW!! Hazel, this is glorious and transformative. Thank you.

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