One most ferocious robber in the pond
World, observes a zoologist, is a slim,
Streamlined insect called the Dytiscus larvae:
Lying in ambush on a water grass
He suddenly shoots at lightning speed
To his prey (or anything moving or smelling
Of ‘animal’ in any way, a fat tadpole, for
Instance), darts underneath it, then quickly
Jerks up his head, grabs it in his jaws
Injects his poisonous glandular secretion into it
Dissolves its entire inside into a liquid soup
And sucks as it swells up first, and then gradually
Shrinks to a limp bundle of skin until it finally falls
From his fatal kiss. Very few animals
According to the observer
Even when starved to death would attack
Let alone eat an equal-sized animal
Of their own species
But the Dytiscus does, just as man does
Within or without a pond
i.
Colouris combustis, an inexplicability, is a deeply mysterious and fascinating creature. Like most inexplicabilities, its life cycle comprises four stages of quantum existence: the [ ], < >, ( ), { }. At the [ ] stage, it exists merely as a translucent secretion in the emptiness of space-time. After a multiplicity of infinities, the colouris combustis gains edges of spectral colour that undulate to their own obscure rhythm. At this stage, the colours dance only at the edges and will make no further progression.
ii.
Moving on to its next stage, the colouris combustis gains momentum and pulsates with a wild energy best described as being similar to that of the rapid-firing of overly-stimulated neurons. Now, the colouris combustis begins to emit a strong static stench, filling the abstractions around it with a sense of uneasiness. The static slime surrounding the inexplicability buzzes and hums, awaiting dispersion into nothingness as the spectral colours build within it.
iii.
We now move on to the colouris combustis’ imago-esque stage, where it is neither here nor there, everywhere and nowhere, within and without existence. Despite its state of ontological uncertainty, the quantum miasma of colours continues to consume and grow. The static slime begins to melt away, as the colours within move from undulation to pulsation to violent combustion.
iv.
While inexplicably and inconceivably beautiful, the colouris combustis is comparatively short-lived. The death of this inexplicability is marked by a gradual dispersion of colour, and a return to the perfect stillness of the quantum void.