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This afternoon I was out in my garden, when I noticed this little being molesting the flowers. I'm not usually able to photograph butterflies or bees very well, because they move too fast, while I linger too long. But today, I managed to photo capture this delightful creature.
A poem written by a family member in May of 1980 came to mind!
BUTTERFLY
Behold the caterpillar,
That flamboyant little creature
With her buoyant personality,
Her busy nature.
Amusing us with her never ending
Attention to the foliage she
Must consume to survive.
Beautiful, appearing whimsical,
Yet aware of a destination
Too compelling to dally for long
At anything so frivolous
As entertaining us.
How like this little creature you were,
Loveable, vulnerable yet competent -
How I adored that sweetness and,
Willingness to attempt the unattemptable,
Bubbling, yielding, wanting.
Then metamorphosis -
That limbic experience
Which transforms her being
Into such elegance,
Into flighted beauty.
Tantalizing us with her
Array of spirited actions
We must watch earthbound.
Jealous, confused, we stand
And watch.
Sensing, not understanding
That primal pull
That affects her
Toward her destination.
What dangered path
With flames to lure
She must pass.
That magnetic pull of fate
She must learn to indure.
Yet, though we long to couple ourselves
With so free a lovely creature
As this,
We must know that
To touch those wings
Would rent them from their flight.
There comes but once that
Magical dusting to give wings purpose,
And in such flight to touch the hearts
Of those who look and see.
Sweet Butterfly,
Though yet earthbound I long
To fly
With Thee.
John Randolph Jeffcoat
May 3, 1980
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