Flat Bat

Tonight I take you back to January 10, 2008 when I happened upon this flat bat — not unlike a flower preserved by pressing and drying — while I was entering the icehouse. If you’re uncomfortable with the circle of life, I suggest you pass on today’s post without scrolling down to see the photos.

If not, it’s short and (bitter)sweet. It’s an honest look at death, as discomfiting as that might be. A bat that made the unfortunate decision to squeeze itself between the extra thick icehouse door and the doorjamb within which it hung. Perhaps the door was slightly ajar and later closed fully, inadvertently trapping the bat. Maybe me, someone else, or even the wind.

Long since deceased when I found the flattened bat, the corpse had become dry and desecrated, remarkably preserved like a one dimensional mummy.

Consider the following haiku a memorial, of sorts

Flat Bat Haiku

Between doorjamb and
insulated icehouse door,
flattened bat, expired. 

These sorts of wildlife encounters are obviously less exciting to discover and document, especially considering our efforts to ensure a sanctuary for wildlife. And yet this memento mori offers a humbling reminder to live fully and enthusiastically. And to honor our wild neighbors even when they “shuffle off this mortal coil”.