White Moths on Marsh Rosemary

Helen Hagemann

When news came from my gardener
that it was the white cabbage moth
that was eating my lettuce and tomato plants

I was in the kitchen making salads
for the family, discussing our grandmother's
old fashioned remedy - Chamomile tea –

a big dipperful over the cabbage leaves.
After I learned that you could kill them
with Nature's Way Caterpillar Killer

I began to wonder if it might not be better
to let them live the life they deserved.
And so, it was on one of my morning walks

when I caught eight or nine white moths dancing
in and out of a Limonium bush,  also known as:
Statice, Sea Lavender or Marsh Rosemary.

That led me to think about the wonderful design
of nature, all coming together at once. The White
Cabbage Moth, alias White Cabbage Butterfly

brushing its hindwings over a canvas of lilac. 
Later that night when I awoke from a fitful sleep 
I decided I would no longer bother to check the

tomatoes, lettuce, and cabbage leaves for the 
white moths' damage. I would stop my fingers
doing that crazy thing that comes with age.