I Didn't Kill the Scarlet Beetles

I didn’t kill the scarlet beetles

Who fed and fornicated upon

The pregnant buds of beauty

My martagon lilies, frilly nods

Which shalt not come if I only

Observe this micro-orgy since

As a spectacle it is a rival to

The racemes of turk’s cap blooms

I didn’t kill the red beetles

Instead I held my Acetamiprid fire

Watched glossy bodies devouring

Stems and making new friends

Upon salads of defenceless leaves

Who am I to decide who lives

To hold a beauty pageant and

Choose Lilium over Coleoptera

Neither being native to my little

Plot of green all crowded with

The things I think are pretty

I left the scarlet beetles all alone

I thought about the prospect

Of losing the lovely scented lilies

And I put away my lethal spray

And I just let go and watched

The little scarlet drama dogged in

Destruction but not of my doing