"The Butterfly and the Flower"
©July 1998 by Spring

 Note:  "The Butterfly and the Flower" reflects the love and respect I have for the woman who has walked with me on this journey of life.  Where this journey takes us neither one of us truly knows but we have acknowledged that we are walking together and that perhaps someday we will share in the more intimate moments of the journey we call life.

I didn't see you come.
You alighted with a delicate beauty that only the soul could see.
A set of perfect wings that fluttered with a magic before you settled
down.

What of you had to be killed or still lies dying...
so that you could lift that body with the ease and beauty that I see.

Blood and guts - the refuse of a life you left behind..
the life line that transformed you into this...
a delicate beauty that only Puccini dared to write.

Will we ever know what went into your shaping?
The cocoon that protected you from the harshness of the world.
What power did you take from all that held you tight?

And while I see your beauty...I never saw your home!
You danced before me with a lightness that defies the journey here.
What woven matrix bound you tightly to defy the howling winds
and streaking summer rain?

Will I ever know the secret of that cover you called home...
that cradled you through the stages until that one moment
when you were called to fly?

How many nights did you feel the power of the wind
that reached to strip you of your hold
and send you sprawling to the ground?

And the rain that soaked you to the core...
defied you to unfurl your wings
and dared you to show your beauty to the world!

And what was home while you
shivered through the stages
to shed the heaviness of life?

Whose hand was there to insure you warmth
and rise you from the refuse
and the struggle of each day?

I can only see the strength from which your body rises...
The beauty of your patterned wings
and the dance you play for me.

I want so much to reach for you but only reach to feel the air
and hope for that one moment when you might alight on me
and share the beauty that I know is yours.

Will I ever know the cost of life?
That moments of being lashed by the wind
and pounding rain?

And you say to me...what does it matter?

You took the best of what there was to give
and transformed yourself into another life
and left what was unrecognized in the vapors of your flight.

And so the wind...with the power of its breathe
has carried you to descend on this flower
that sways with a delight that only the sun and moon can know.

And what is our life - but the recognition of a season shared.
You with full wings and I in full bloom now share the mist and
scent of life and continue to sway with the beauty that we call our own.

And when I fade to take my winter's journey...
where will the wind's current take you
to shelter you from harm?

And when you drift back with the seasons, will you know to alight back
into my arms - whose pedals you have danced on
and whose soul has become your own!

And do you know how many times you have touched me with your dust?
I sway and bow my head with a benediction of thanksgiving
for all the pedals you have graced.

Night will come and you will alight on me once more...
with quiet wings and in our heaviness we will drift til morn.