To Whom the Praying Mantis

Today's testament deserves a shout out to Roger and all the Jermyn / Hache family, whose pet Mantis is worthy of commemoration. And where it says "I", you needn't think me, think of yourself.
You, you are the gardener.


To Whom the Praying Mantis

To whom the Praying mantis prays?
  I look about, I cannot say,
There’s no one here but he and I,
  Beneath both blue and two-tone skies

I set this garden here about,
  Seed Zinnias and Corm Lilies,
Raked the herbal patch of Winter thatch,
  He showed up later in the Spring

I first thought him a katydid, 
  Growing nymph, glowing green, in season
He was the second stalk on my sunflower,
  Would they could climb by their own power

When I water or I fertilize,
  He’d come out with adoring eyes, 
Much as a dog or cat might beg,
  Between his hunts for bugs and flies

To whom the Praying Mantis prays?
  I’ve kept his Eden to this day,
Now Autumn and he’s turning gray,
  Fading with the light away,

I know they live not but one year,
 His span of seasons have been scored, 
With fear his time is coming soon,
  I pray he does not think I’m Lord