in the butterfly conservatory
everything is a flash
of pandemonium and
i am transfixed by the beauty
of miracles seen
not like still photographs
but streamed in strips
of beauty floating
in broad sweeps of light
crossing like waves that
crash on stone walls
through layer after layer
of retinas caught unaware
but instinctively
transforming the world
into mixed bursts of colour
from the shadowy greys
of black over white
for a brief moment
i am lost in the confused memory
of the emotional flat-line
of your indifference
and my imagination
betrays me
as you fold into
and over yourself
hurriedly tucking and turning
who you are
in some origami ritual
that stops my heart
when i see
you emerge from
my thoughts
as a paper moth
with cascading
vellum wings
that flutter across the table
helplessly beating
through the wrinkles of
a desperate life
your truth a temptation
and an excuse for this vacuum
this empty void you offer
to anyone capable of
a breath strong enough
to inflate your dreams
to anyone eager enough
to flail helplessly with you
anyone blind enough
to fail to see
that where there is no air
there can be no flight
at day's end
i stand on a cliff
above a familiar beach
and look westward
toward where the sun is
draining in a perfect counterpoint
of blood red and burnished gold
into the sea
and i remember how it was
when you were there
with me
your fingers enfolded
in mine
and you said how
the sinking sun
reminded you of
a butterfly
stretched across the horizon
its velvet wings
covering the world
with the soft embrace
of eventide rushing
to shore
and carrying us
above the threat of darkness
into everlasting
light
This poem is really a composite of three separate poetic fragments. Each one embodies the image of a butterfly, and so I simply stitched them together in something of a haphazard way. I only offer this explanation because there may seem to be an inconsistency in the voice and mood as you read through the three stanzas. I see the piece as something like a symphony of words and images, consisting of different and disparate movements.
