Have You Got Carried Away

"Have you ever got carried away by a butterfly?" "What?" "Have you ever got carried away by a butterfly?" "What do you mean?" "Have you ever got carried away by a butterfly?" "How does a butterfly ever carry anyone away?" ‘Well, I did not say a butterfly carries one away. I asked you, rather, have you ever got carried away by a butterfly." ‘What is the difference?’ "Both are different concepts. One can just get carried away by a butterfly even when the butterfly does not know about it at all." "Well, what if one gets carried away by a butterfly?" "One is blessed." "How…?" "I say this because anyone and everyone cannot just get carried away by a butterfly. Only those whose hearts are authentic, simple, sincere, straightforward, honest, open, earnest, genuine, uncomplicated and very light could get carried away by a butterfly." "Yes. I was carried away by a butterfly once. She looked different from any other butterflies. She did not simply hurry away like any other butterflies. Rather, she sat silently on flowers and conversed with them. She conversed with me too. I could hear her whisper within. Later, her flying away seemed a loss for me. I felt as though my little heart too had flown away with her. I found myself lost; robbed; fallen ill. I felt as if affected by pneumonia forever. Every minute seemed to churn me. Every hour seemed to burn me. Nights slept in my sleeplessness. I searched her everywhere eagerly… earnestly… It was just like a wartime emergency. It was just like emergency-time urgency… I was as if I had lost my most treasured fortune. There was a fire in my belly. Yet, I did not want to reveal this fact to you initially. I felt ashamed. Silly…!" "Pure infatuation…!" "What?" “Obsession…!” “See, you are insulting me.” “I am not. You are foolish.” “How…?” "Does one ever feel ashamed of revealing to others fact of one's getting carried away by a butterfly at all? If one feels ashamed, does that getting carried away a real getting carried away? Does one feel fallen ill when one feels getting carried away by a butterfly? Rather, doesn't one feel very free of all ills? Does one suffer sleeplessness when one really feels getting carried away? Instead, doesn't one sleep peacefully? Does one get possessed when one gets carried away by a butterfly? In lieu, doesn't one become dispossessed, detached, renounced and carefree? Does one feel pain or longing within when one really gets carried away by a butterfly? On the contrary, doesn't one become painless, burden-less, light?" "If so, do you mean I had not got carried away?" "You tell me." "If so...?" "Cool!" "What?" "Be cool!" "Then..." "Allow yourself just to get carried away by a butterfly." 19 November 2022 Dialogue Proficiency Poetry Contest Sponsored by: Matt Caliri