the duskened evening
pours golden green onto higher parts
lifts a feathery breeze to dust down, forget the day,
unfold secrets from the under-dark
kitchen tasks dissolve from duty
to haze the half-sight
of two butterflies swirling,
in pulses, mid-air
oh the energy of this dance!
wafts on the out-hales of their attraction,
in bursts and darts of exuberance, they never seem to touch, magnetically court their auras instead
in this fated moment,
time is the lesser,
these butterflies dance to decry the cruelty of their brief life, surrender an eternity
to the nirvana of being found
The poem starts in my kitchen at home with the sunset lighting up the tops of the trees across the road. The gorgeousness of this scene snapped me out of whatever mundanity I was in. I adore these calls to life, or back to dream. Whichever, it is entirely vital.
I’m sure these butterflies are something I’ve witnessed a hundred times before, but I was especially captivated by their air-tango the other day. I can’t believe they go through so much change in their short and beautiful life. I’m including Bic Runga’s ‘Beautiful Collision’, her voice I love, and this track celebrates a fated meet. Also including a recent pop release, ‘Espresso’ by Sabrina Carpenter which my 10 year daughter happened to play in the car yesterday morning. It’s a breezy, sliding teenage tune. My 12 year old daughter happened to be hands-in-the-air dancing to it at her graduation disco this week.
Maybe she's the butterfly now.
This is so lovely, and a pleasure to hear you read it. Thank you!
This first stanza….lovely!