Baxter Bug and the Purple Orb

Baxter was born in a meadow
under a rotting plank
with hundreds of brothers and sisters
in a home both darkly and dank.

His momma was a June bug
and he was a June bug too,
schooled in all the sorts of things
that June bugs love to do.

The time had come for him to fly
and leave his happy home,
his momma went to the book case
and pulled out a well worn tome.

She read from a chapter called "Hazards"
to each of her children dear,
"Stay clear of birds when you’re flying
or you won't last out the year."

"And one more thing that you should know,
and this you must absorb,
beware of the light in the evening sky
that's called the purple orb."

So he left his home behind him,
went flying all around,
he saw some birds in the tree tops
and headed right for the ground.

After landing in the tall grass
he met a stink bug named Dwight
who told him wonderful stories
of an orb so purple and bright.

"Forget now what your mother said,
I'm here to set you straight,
the orb is just a doorway,
you know, it's like a gate."

"When you enter into its brightness
you're magically swept away
to a lovely world of happiness
where forever you can stay."

So Baxter started searching,
he looked both high and low
and if he found the purple orb
straight to it he would go.

But the light was very clever,
it kept its secret well,
poor Baxter kept on looking
as if he was under a spell.

Finally on an August eve
just as darkness was appearing
he spotted a distant purple glow
across a meadow's clearing.

"It must be the orb,” he said to himself,
so he flew with all his might
across the meadow with all due speed
towards that beautiful purple light.

Soon he hovered before it
and bathed in its eerie glow,
what wonders lay in store for him
his mind could scarcely know.

Gathering up his courage
into the purple light he sped,
crackle and zap was all he heard
as he fell to the ground near dead.

He lay in a growing pile
of other bugs who'd seen
a purple orb up in the sky,
but it wasn't what it seemed.

So if you meet a stink bug
who goes by the name of Dwight
don't believe the tales he tells
of a beautiful purple light.

Remember what Baxter's momma said,
"and this you must absorb,
beware of the light in the evening sky
that's called the purple orb."


By John