Dragonfly

Navigator of the winds,
cartographer of translucent maps,
negotiating all angles, planes,
with dreamy precision.
There is creative flair
in the slope of flight,
surprise in the choice
of loftiness or descent.
What terrain does it chart?
Freedom, and freedom's limits:
unmeasured choices within
strict, elusive bounds
as the field of force shifts
sideways, clockwise.
A nebulous world builds
swiftly in this shimmering
garden on a breezy afternoon.
To trace the dragonfly's path
with a thread of cobweb
would be to wreathe and stitch
lime-trees, roses, dandelions
together crazily in
an ecstasy of invention.
Or, point to point,
connect all dots …
Would that produce
a veined pattern
on air's diaphanous membrane
like the wings of a dragonfly?