<p>I am shoveling mulch from a great pile and loading it into a wheelbarrow. It is hot.</p>
<p>“Too hot,” I am thinking, “for the middle of May.” I eventually resign myself to the heat, accepting it as I have learned to accept any unpleasantry that one must occasionally bear. I cannot, however, resign myself to the thick swarm of flies encircling my head without cease. My mind is not strong enough to ignore or make peace with these naughty gnats.</p>
<p>Any way I turn, I can see the swarm encasing my face and head like a helmet of flies. They are clogging my nose and my ears. My eyes water and sting when one kamikaze works its way into the corners. I remember that in the Bible one name for Satan is “Beelzebub” which translates “Lord of the Flies.” I totally get that.</p>
<p>After much useless swatting and even more useless cursing, I head for the house. Maybe some bug spray will keep the gnats at bay. I locate an old bottle with DEET prominently displayed on the label, spray some on my hands and rub my face and neck. Back to my shovel, my mulch pile and my gnat nemeses.</p>
<p>I must admit they aren’t as insistent after that, although some continue to seek my eyes and occasionally find their mark.</p>
<p>“What is the draw to eyes, ears and nostrils?” I wonder. “Are they looking for food? For a home? For some gnostic gnat knowledge?” When I finish for the day, I decide to get some gnat knowledge of my own.</p>
<p>I read the very first thing the Encyclopedia Britannica says in its definition of gnat: “Any member of several species of small flies that bite and annoy humans.” But that is information anyone who knows gnats knows. It goes on to tell me that “In North America the name is often applied to the black fly, midge, fungus gnat, biting midge and fruit fly.” The EB continues by noting that gnats tend to hover about the eyes of humans and animals.</p>
<p>“But why?”</p>
<p>I continue to search.</p>
<p>At anther website, this one from the University of Florida, I learn that some flies are attracted by fluids secreted by the eyes, nose and ears on both humans and animals. Ah ha. A gnat’s need for nutrition is the reason for its pesky behavior. Well, that’s scientific but not very poetic. Still, I guess it shoots down my hypothesis that gnats are merely looking for a cave-like space so they can meditate on the meaning of life.</p>
<p>I also find out that a swarm of gnats is sometimes called a “ghost.” I love learning this. It is such a poetic descriptor for something that appears nebulous and somewhat misty while referencing our popular image of ghosts. In John Leech’s famous illustrations for Dickens’ "A Christmas Carol," for example, you can see the back wall of the room through Marley’s ghost. Casper the Friendly Ghost also has this see-through quality. A ghost of gnats has it as well.</p>
<p>Encyclopedia Britannica paints a negative picture of gnats vis a vis humans, it’s true. But like all living things on earth, they do have a role and function in the environment. As gnats feed they aid in decomposing matter; they transport nutrients between plants; and they are food for other insects and birds. Perhaps if they were to contemplate their lives, gnats would realize they have an important purpose in the Great Scheme of things.</p>
<p>Later, when I return to my shoveling and mulching, I might have a greater appreciation for that ghost of gnats that follows me everywhere. I am not going to be happy about it, understand, but as long as I am covered in DEET, I will do my best to accept it.</p>
