Trap, Trap, Trappings

You were trapped for days, yet you said nothing. Nothing that I could hear, at least. With your time, you silently meditated refusing to be frantic about your plight. And when i realized what I'd done, it was then that you simply took back to your flight. On a windy day it seemed your wings gave you no control, but after being trapped, I wonder, did it really matter what direction you went? Fly on, butterfly.

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Charaxes brutus natalensis. Pictured in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Français : Charaxes brutus natalensis. Photo prise à Dar es Salaam, en Tanzanie. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I walked out of my office to close the windows after I'd opened a few of them last night. Cooler temperatures at night, you know. It was then that I discovered a butterfly that I'd trapped between a window and the screen--a window that I happened not to open last night--who knows how many days ago that occurred. I apologized to the butterfly, and when I opened the window, it didn't move, perhaps still unsure that it was again free. Perhaps, too weak to fly. Perhaps, too deeply entranced in a patient game. With a flick of my fingernail on the screen, I nudged it onward and it swiftly flew into the wind and was carried quickly across the street and out of sight, blending in with the background on a journey to somewhere, nowhere, anywhere, wherever.

So, I wondered. Sometimes we accidentally trap others, and other times we're mistakenly trapped. Sometimes we have to panic and other times realize, with no other choice, to accept introspection and be patient. Apologize when you've mistakenly closed the trap. Or, if trapped, when the door opens... spread your wings and fly.

The Butterfly Closes Her Eyes

At a different time
In a different place
Residue that can’t be erased
Weighs on the white wings
That would free her distracted soul

Decisions based on a world
That changed, but never published
New rules of governance
On the thoughts from one night
That one of us can’t remember

Though close enough to touch
Eternally far from understanding
Kettle once whistled with abandon
Engine now idles in emotional silence
Eyes alight on everything but me

Guilty with the right intention
Once denied, always tried,
To a decision of unanimous inaction

The butterfly closes her eyes
And listens to the waves
That crash on her deserted island

Butterflied Love

Butterflied Love

Image by Te55 via Flickr

The babe in your arms
Touches the butterfly on your chest.
And thinks,
One day, I too, will fly.
Until then the world is bounded by our reach;
The butterfly happily chained around your neck,
As both a memory and a dream.
One day, we all will fly.
Together.