Parasite 金蟬

Parasite, 2006~23

Remnants of previous artwork, digital printing on photopaper, styrofoam, plastic, paper, plywood, wooden battens, F clamps, mixed media

Dimension variable

The golden cicada is also known

By its onomatopoeic name. 

It’s golden brown all over with

Translucent front and rear wings.

The family Cicadidae is widely spread across

The world’s tropical and temperate zones,

In deserts, grasslands, and forests,

Subsisting on tree sap.

They lay their eggs in trees,

And when the nymphs hatch in autumn,

They descend into the ground,

Where they moult multiple times.

It will take them over a decade, 

Before the adults emerge from the dirt.

After the nymph has

Metammorphosised

Into adulthood, it has

But a month to live

The husks that the cicada

Sheds so often 

Can be used in

Cuisine, medicine, and poetry

Does the cicada recognise

What it used to look like,

As it buzzes on and on?

金蟬俗稱知了，

通體呈褐帶金，

前後翅薄而透。

蟬科分佈廣泛，

全球溫帶熱帶，

沙漠草原森林，

吸取樹汁作食。

蟬卵產於樹上，

秋季孵出幼蟲，

落到地鑽入地，

土裡多番蜕皮，

最後一次蟬蛻，

蟲由污泥探出，

已經過十數年。

脱離若蟲階段，

枝頭羽化成蟬，

餘個多月時光。

金蟬脱殼乃常，

處處脱下的殼，

入饌入藥入詩。

每一個舊模樣，

金蟬知了知了？

知了知了鳴叫。