Life Cycle of the Botfly

It was a thing that made me queasy

puffed up fat larva of something

found near a dead chipmunk

I let it go and watched it undulate

over the sidewalk on a hot day

hoping the sun would kill it

didn’t know it would bury itself in soil

to become a botfly that lay small larvae

picked up by unsuspecting mammals

then worm through the fur to an opening

and now inside it bores its way to the skin

feeds off the host in a disturbing life cycle

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dVerse nature poem today. I am still disturbed by seeing the botfly larva. I have tried to be open minded about its ways but have trouble with the “bores its way to the skin” part.

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Life Cycle of the Botfly