![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2022-06-26-at-6.40.44-AM-300x179.png\")
<\/p>\nDid the title tap memories of feelings so right<\/p>\n
they moved your heart higher than a soaring kite?<\/p>\n
Did you imagine yourself in a meadow so bright<\/p>\n
the colors would bind you in endless delight<\/p>\n
while wandering waterbirds dance and excite<\/p>\n
You? Did you assume serenity would land your sight<\/p>\n
on a monarch butterfly caught in mid-flight<\/p>\n
while skimming and skipping over lakes so lightly,<\/p>\n
ephemeral motion, in stillness made mightily<\/p>\n
calm, profoundly full of meaning and insight?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You suppose wrong; the title\u2019s not a typo.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stepping out of the church\u2019s front door —<\/p>\n
in a fog of solemn sorrow and ire<\/p>\n
after a troubling memorial service<\/p>\n
for a troubled sister who had left me<\/p>\n
hurt, angry, too soon, and unresolved —<\/p>\n
I glimpsed a butterfly wing on the sidewalk<\/p>\n
just before my next step would crush it<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I froze in thought, \u201cOh, Butterfly!<\/p>\n
Where have you gone?\u201d<\/p>\n
And remembered my much admired beloved sister.<\/p>\n
I spoke to the missing piece,<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you still flying on one wing?\u201d<\/p>\n
And remembered my enigmatic, wounded sister.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My mind\u2019s eye created instant poetry:<\/p>\n
\u201cDid some jealous god capture you<\/p>\n
to rip your wing<\/p>\n
from your frail body<\/p>\n
then spirited you away<\/p>\n
and left you forsaken<\/p>\n
far from your wing<\/p>\n
To seal the separation?\u201d<\/p>\n
And remembered my fiercely gifted sister.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(Oh, my sister!<\/p>\n
No one ever \u2013 before or since \u2013<\/p>\n
so close to me<\/p>\n
so far apart.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
All in a fleeting moment<\/p>\n
I stooped to gather up the wing —<\/p>\n
ignoring voices speaking comfort,<\/p>\n
hugs seeking to console me<\/p>\n
with joys in their memory of her.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rejecting those useless cares,<\/p>\n
while remembering them kindly.<\/p>\n
I tucked their memories and my wing<\/p>\n
between two pages of eulogy<\/p>\n
and took them home with me<\/p>\n
to wash myself in all the unshed tears<\/p>\n
drowning me in despair.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re still here \u2013 the memories and the wing —<\/p>\n
on the wooden box that holds her ashes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On that otherwise empty bookshelf<\/p>\n
The dust covers happy memories<\/p>\n
And she (oh, butterfly!) looks so forlorn;<\/p>\n
in my dreams she\u2019s flying.<\/p>\n
In her life I dreamed I could make her whole again;<\/p>\n
she would not land long enough to let me.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When I saw a craft vendor tossing away<\/p>\n
a wooden dragonfly with one wing missing,<\/p>\n
I offered to buy it; we bargained for two:<\/p>\n
one whole and the other I wanted.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I keep the dragonflies on the ashes box,<\/p>\n
placing the butterfly wing<\/p>\n
where the dragonfly\u2019s is missing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The dragonflies stay still.<\/p>\n
But every now and then<\/p>\n
the wing<\/p>\n
moves —<\/p>\n
Is it trying to fly? —<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Once the wing fell and was lost<\/p>\n
to me.<\/p>\n
I recovered it<\/p>\n
while dusting behind the box.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sometimes I forget the whole one;<\/p>\n
even when it\u2019s there, I don\u2019t see.<\/p>\n
I allow the sight of the wounded one —<\/p>\n
and the wing — to haunt me,<\/p>\n
knowing the butterfly will never be whole<\/p>\n
but hoping to one day reach<\/p>\n
Solace and Resolution.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Yet,<\/p>\n
maybe I began this wrong.<\/p>\n
Perhaps, after all,<\/p>\n
this will<\/em> be<\/p>\n about finding serenity<\/p>\n while watching a butterfly, a wing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Did the title tap memories of feelings so right they moved your heart higher than a soaring kite? Did you imagine yourself in a meadow so bright the colors would bind you in endless delight while wandering waterbirds dance and excite You? Did you assume…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":853,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[4923],"class_list":["post-122083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","tag-2022marathon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/853"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122083"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122121,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122083\/revisions\/122121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}