Dear Butterfly

For this lifetime,
You chose to be a butterfly,
And I, a man.

You fly across the sky
Leaving multitudes of stars
   and constellations in your path––
Where you touch the earth––
   there is a flower.

As you flit through the air
   on a sunny day,
The sky becomes bluer,
The grass greener.

One day,
I caught you in my net.
The dust of your wings fell to the ground
   and turned to gold.
When I tethered you to earth,
You created a heaven of rainbows.

Since then,
I have decided to set you free
   and let you dance.

Sometimes, when you come near to me
   and sit on my hand,
I can gaze into your eyes and feel
   the pulse of your being.

I can feel
The longing of my childhood––
The rhymy mystery of my birth:

I cross my heart
And close my eyes
And wish I were
A butterfly.