I thought you were a butterfly

But then you gracefully fell to the earth.

For a second, I lost hope in all things beautiful

But then a butterfly appeared before me.

On the outside it was a pretty gold leaf

With no wings.

Still the process of change came with the wind.

Prosthetics no longer needed.

The gold leaf was just as beautiful as the butterfly I set out to find.

Lord knows it’s been many places.

Seen a lot of faces

And many worms.

See the gold leaf wasn’t much different than the butterfly.

They wouldn’t be here long

Soon to be replaced involuntarily

Let nature take its course.

“The Backstory of this poem”

I was taking a walk as I do most mornings when I thought I saw a butterfly next to me. I reached out my hand in an attempt to catch the “butterfly” but as it fell, I realized it was just a leaf. My mind began to wonder, what makes a butterfly more special than a leaf. “Is it the beauty of its wings? Maybe.”

In addition, in the fourth line of the poem, “But then a butterfly appeared before me,” I speak of a change in perspective. I will view the gold leaf as if it is a beautiful butterfly, although it isn’t, but I choose to see it’s beauty.

Then I started to think about the many changes that leaves and butterflies undergo. I found beauty in the fact that Leaves don’t need wings to fly, the wind carries them. Leaves are just as special because they provide food for worms etc. and nature needs leaves just as much. I thought about the stages and the actual makeup of the chrysalis, and the sound of brown leaves (that were once green) crunching underneath my feet. During my walk I became mentally lost in nature, and I found it interesting how much we take for granted when ALL of nature depends/ relies on everything in it. It’s all Beautiful, even the pretty gold leaf with no wings.