(for Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The safest place for an aphid is on the back
of a lady beetle, which seems dangerous
for the aphid, given the lady beetle’s

voracious appetite for the little buggers.
There’s logic in hiding in plain sight,
just out of view of this predator—

a biter of people, an eater of aphids—
considered more of a pest than its
gentler ladybug cousin. But the little guy

riding shotgun doesn’t know that,
hitching a ride on a convenient conveyance—
two resourceful wee beasties

facing an infinitely precarious future,
fulfilling their roles as all creatures do
in the universe of things,

moving in tandem toward
an unknown destination
one tiny step at a time.