by Michael Plante

She was chasing the sunshine of her youth
her fashionable colors and markings designed to hold unsuspecting eyes
could draw the stoutest of men to dance
and dance they did.

“My curse is that I’m color-blind,” she said.

Somewhere on the west coast is a paradise
where free spirits meet and sing
freely dancing upon the waves of life.
Sometimes they listen to the sound of waves
crashing upon the shores
a dreamer’s paradise for those willing to dream.

“My wings are strong as is my mind,” she said.

Touching the blooms of a summer’s day
symbols of beauty that intrigue the mind
captivates our imagination
and releases our inhibitions.
Butterfly flew west searching for paradise.

“I’m not alone,” she said.

The brightest of fields abundant in blooms
could not sway her to stay
as she flew west she heard them singing
“Spirit of the west calls home,
memories that lapse on reservations
bye bye butterfly,
bye bye”

The fluttering of her wings
in rhythm with nature and all that exists
create her own song in the light of her youth
and those that watched as she fluttered on by
smiled in admiration and longing for youthful memories.
“If I could still touch the skies
in such a way
I’d take to the air
and follow her home.
Yet tired wings and old memories
tie me to the land
bye bye butterfly,
bye bye”

The sun shines
the rain falls
Winter sleeps
and stars guide dreamers to their destiny.
A day of rest
collected thoughts
far from remorse butterfly flies.

The mountains of the west
restrain to sustain
dreamers of colors that dance in the night.
Higher and higher dreamers must climb
touching the heavens as they do
their colors fade and time erodes their wings.
Butterfly strains to grace the heavens
darkness arrives to take her sight
faith guides her to the land of dreamers
as the ocean of diamonds fall upon the shore.

Butterfly dreams as the full moon rises
the sound of the waves tells her she’s home.
Closing blind eyes she catches her breath
the salt air cleanses her wings in darkness.
Renewal, she says as dreams slip away,
renewal.

With no memories in her dreams
Butterfly awakens a new dawn
the dreamer’s diamonds have sunk beneath the waves
sleeping beneath skies of blue.
Sounds of a new day welcome her home
Butterfly now sees color
her vibrant wings restored by dreams
as a million butterflies take to the skies.