Carefree Green Caterpillars

Abe V Rotor

From birth through days of youth
until you meet the flowers,
you live carefree and mute,
Feared by all the growers.

Fearless you're in your spree,
devouring most anything
in deceit and mimicry;
So young you're to be a king!

Gnaw and grow, gnaw and grow,
while the flowers and birds wait
at the end the rainbow,
across Dante's fateful gate.

Life's contentment and strife,
each and everyone in life,
must share - the order and task
of nature we need not ask. ~


A relative of the Rice Nymphalid caterpillar (Cnaphalocrosis medinalis), this green caterpillar engorges itself thrice its body weight in preparation to becoming a pupa, metamophosizing into a skipper. A skipper has the antennae, wings and body of a butterfly, but the hairy and color of a moth, It has a crepuscular habit, that is, active at dusk, in comparison with the diurnal habit of the butterfly and the nocturnal habit of the moth. This is an example of time-niche which Nature provided to related organisms in order to prevent direct competition among themselves. Photos by Matthew Marlo R Rotor, Center for Ecozoic Learning and Livelihood (CELL), Silang, Cavite