September Prayer

In Earth’s barest state 
on nature’s carpet and slick 
rock tie-dyed by the sun— 
the mantis treads and holds 
stick arms to the sky. 
 
Molting away its famous 
green, it ventures on twig legs 
from window to road 
into the vaults of nature’s gold 
and water haloed by reseda. 
 
The nymphs now welcome  
the ground beneath them, 
leaving the canopies they clung 
to. The re-birthed traveler 
though not young 
 
accepts change— 
gone is the exoskeleton of summer’s 
green leaf and skin—  
it’s now achromatic after 
 
August left a September prayer. 

By Nicole Pottgen