Simplicity

We have learned simplicity,
we sing in the choir of cicadas

In 2004, the midwest of the USA became the region of the largest outbreak of biomass on the planet. Brood X emerged, the largest of the periodical cicadas, with a life cycle of 17 years.

They spend most of their life underneath as nymphs, going through several instars, and feeding from root juices of trees. Then, almost all on the same day, they emerge, and crawl up.

They molt into adulthood, which takes up to an hour. All this takes place above an abyss. If they fall, the soft wings will not unfold properly.

In the last stage, the wings unfold.

They hide and rest for a few days. This is supposedly the time they are most delicious.

Then, they tumble around, with their poor eyesight and clumsy bodies, causing harm to none, and begin their irresistible mating chant, droning sound patterns that move through the landscape like ambient music.

17 years underneath, for a few weeks of a single song. Who will question the meaning of life?