The dragonfly and the window pane

Last night, I heard a tick-tick-tock in one of the fluorescent lamps in my office.  It does not sound like the flies that swarm the light during rainy season. I looked up: it's a dragonfly. I don't know how it entered my office.  I think it passed through the windows in the toilet: it is made of cement with slits slanting downwards.  A tree frog used to enter that way.  And now a dragonfly. Perhaps, the dragonfly mistook the fluorescent lamp for the sun.  I checked the literature on the photoreceptors of the dragonfly's eyes.  Their eyes are sensitive to UV, Blue, and Green. The fluorescent spectrum have peaks at red, green, and blue.  So the dragon fly saw the blue and the green, but not the red. This morning, I heard the tick-tick-tock again, but this time not on the fluorescent bulbs but on the glass windows facing west.  The window is about 6 feet above the floor.  To open the window, you have to turn the latch at the bottom pane, then move the window outward.  The hinge is on the upper pane. The window is closed.  The dragonfly can't get out. I climbed the aluminum stairs below the window and tried to open the window.  The latch is stuck.  It hasn't been opened for a very long time, about three years, I guess.  Oh, what will I do? But the dragonfly is gone! I checked the bottom of the window pane.  It is partially open, just enough for the dragonfly to climb out and fly. How did it know that there was an opening?  I guess because of the wind currents.  It went where the wind blows.  Only a living thing can swim against the current: it is true with fishes and also with dragonflies. It is only by faith that I say so, but it is enough reason for me to smile.  There is hope not only for flowers but also for dragonflies.

Dragonfly Dome Paperweight

Rustic Barn Wood Window Frame (not for pictures)