The Moth & The Butterfly

author's note:

I hope you can let your butterfly out during the holidays.


THE MOTH & THE BUTTERFLY

In the cage of my youth I dreamt
of living as a butterfly one day.

But when I became an adult
the god in me
restricted my activity
to a mundane world
of brown and gray.

Trouble was:
I could still feel that airy wish
fluttering frantically in frustration
inside my chest.

Day after day
I fought to suppress that energy
believing I must obey
the dictates of practicality.

But then one night I saw the moth
singe its wing in the candle flame.

Overcome with the desire
to experience the intensity of spirit
that fuzzy gray fellow
had abandoned common sense
in a moment of madness.

I then saw
I wasn’t being as practical as I thought:
I needed to open
the cage of responsibility
occasionally
and allow the butterfly inside to dance in the air
as a beautiful flame.

Otherwise
I might die in the fire
that falsely offers deliverance
from this earthbound existence.

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