Butterfly

Once,
when I was a child in body,
I caught a butterfly.

It was easy.
I just waited till it had
landed and snatched it up
by both wings.

It was so beautiful.
I named it "Heart" because
of the pattern on it's
wings and the joy it made
me feel inside my chest.

I would keep this butterfly.
This Heart.

But a terrible thing happened.
The beautiful pattern of its
wings, the heart of many colors,
was being rubbed off by my fingers!

I let Heart go but she didn't seem
so beautiful and carefree anymore.
And she seemed to fly more out of
resignation than out of joy.

I learned a lesson that day.
Beauty is not something you grab
because you want it. Beauty is
not something you can possess whenever
you feel the need. Beauty can be a
very fragile thing indeed.

I see another butterfly.
She is flying crazily in the blowing wind.
And being tossed endlessly and dangerously
across the sky.

But I have learned my lesson.
I will not grab the butterfly for
fear I'll surely do more harm than good.

I think I'll simply hold out my hands
and offer her a place to land. A place
to be temporarily sheltered from the wind
and the storm.

And if she lands I will hold her with
the gentleness of touches so that she
may fly again whenever she wants to.

And if she lands I will tell her how
poignantly beautiful she is. And how
she touches me in a place deep inside...
A place so deep that there could be
only one name for this butterfly.

If she lands I will call her "Soul".

© Jeff B

~ With wishes for peace and rest to all of the
little butterflies who were grabbed and possessed
instead of heralded and allowed to fly... ~