Art + Poetry, two of my faves to join together.

The Dragon-Fly 

Today I saw the dragon-fly
Come from the wells where he did lie.
An inner impulse rent the veil
Of his old husk: from head to tail
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.
He dried his wings: like gauze they grew;
Thro’ crofts and pastures wet with dew
A living flash of light he flew. 
--- Alfred Lord Tennyson

Before bats, before birds, before pterosaurs, a dragonfly-like insect was probably the first thing to fly on Earth. Dragonflies are the strongest flyers in the insect world—reaching speeds of up to 30 mph and among the few animals that can hover. (PBS)

Dragonflies undergo “incomplete metamorphosis” which means that they don’t go through a pupal phase like a butterfly. A dragonfly nymph hatches from an egg looking somewhat like a tiny adult, but without wings. The nymphs go through a series of molts, shedding their skin. Each of these molts is called an instar. The nymph comes “from the wells where he did lie” in the final instar before becoming an adult, or imago.

The nymph must shed its exoskeleton to reveal a new, winged body. A split forms dorsally on the thorax just above the wing pads and somehow the imago must pump fluid into the wings so they will expand and harden.

Nature is AMAZING.