Sunday, September 28, 2008

Butterfly On My Leg

Butterfly On My Leg

It was when I sat in the darkness
of my own anger at my loss
that I suddenly noticed the soft and subtle flickers.
White wings came together like an angel's hands in a greeting.
The black eyes studied me.
She moved with steady steps on my calf.
Could I not feel anymore?

I did not move as I looked down. I could feel each footstep.
The wings were translucent, shimmering with
silken fibers. Yet they were opaque.
I wanted to see.
I wanted to feel.
I need to hear.
I strained and did hear the little one's words to me.
Fly with me.
I explained I couldn't.
I must remain to guard my losses.
Her voice beat consistently.
Fly with me.
I told her I could not.

She flew higher and floated to my ears.
She told me of succulent lavendar and heathers,
the inebriating scents of the green grass,
and being quenched by the dew warmed by the rising sun.

She said she understood. She knew.
It was only when she left her cocoon
was she able to savor the lushness of life.
The dark confines were cozy and safe.
But, hunger raged. The fatigue.
The desire to break out, stretch her wings and senses.

She began with a tiny punch.


*~*~*~*~*~*~
This was a writing prompt in my poetry journal - "Imagine a butterlfy lands on your leg."

Tribute to The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World

I've been reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez lately, and it's impossible not to be inspired and in love with his stories. Here is my interpretation of his short story "The Handsomest Drowned Man"

Entangled in Seaweed
Somehow, in the course of their normal days
without anyone realizing, they lost their
dreams. They were simply tossed
over the cliffs
with all the other loved and spent objects.
It was so uneventful. They didn't even know it.
They slept hard sleep, awakening to remember
only what was not done.
The women lost their softness,
while the men packed away their strengths
like wool blankets found in June.
Their bodies blurred into continuous days.
When the dreams happened to wash onto the shore,
the children did not know how to greet them,
as they had never been introduced.
Though the dreams lay entangled in scales and seaweed,
everyone took a risk to welcome an Unknown,
but possibly familiar.

They revived embers that barely glowed
and gave them a place to nestle, breathing into the fire.
A light of brilliance,
of all things enormous, wondrous and lustrous,
shone upon them. They wallowed
and followed in a sensuous and ethereal world,
that promised a Tomorrow.

They held their new found dreams above their heads,
allowing themselves to be lifted.
Their feet no longer touched the ground.