The unfathomable walls of an unseen prison

Thinking about a centerpiece for our Pope Benedict XVI Fan Club Ladies' Luncheon this afternoon, we gathered branches of early-blooming shrubs from the western forty, Common Floweringquince and Forsythia, above.

Checking our inventory for the perfect vase, we considered a tall, square pink one. It had been stored in the basement, and there was a noticeably cobwebby feeling about it. Peering inside, we discovered the earthly remains of a cluster of tiny flies who had met their maker when their struggles to fulfill their destiny had been thwarted by the unfathomable walls of an unseen prison.

Calling to mind the final agonies of citizens of ancient Pompei or Herculaneum frozen in time by the ash of Vesuvius or their own prehistoric insect relatives caught in amber, their plight invites contemplation.

Update: "Sisu brings the Unfathomable Walls of an Unseen Prison,"  says DeepSeaNews.

Comments

[goomp]

Occurrences that bring contemplation of the source and the fragility of life are good for the psyche.

[Patti]

For some reason, my psyche sees the dead flies themselves as a fitting centerpiece for ol' Benedict.... Either that, or I woke up too full of snarkiness this morning :P

[hnav]

Life...

Such an amazing photo.

Perhaps if I turned the image into a political metaphor, I can easily see Al Gore blame global warming upon the demise of these fascinating creatures, Hillary Clinton would blame GW Bush as she runs from the prospects of new sniper fire, etc...

[Christopher Taylor]

There is an H. P. Lovecraft story called "The Walls of Eryx" about a traveller on an alien planet becoming trapped and dying in an invisible maze. That was the first I thought of when I read the title to this post.