Monarch Butterfly

I see a beautiful monarch butterfly
Gliding up in the backdrop of sky
Widespread wings caressed softly
By the sun and kissed by the wind
Arresting beauty of the universe
In the fleeting geometric pattern
Suspends me in numb awe

I see the complexity of life dialectics
Moving smoothly from one life form 
To the other through reincarnation
Of one being passing through stages
So extremely distinct and separate
So uniquely uniform and wholesome
In one passionate attempt to reach 
The perfection of lightness of being
Expressed in the pattern of wings

A tiny egg at the edge of a leaf
Of an orange milkweed hatches 
Into a hungry caterpillar that is 
Focused on eating and storing
Energy of leaves sun, and wind
Like solar panels equipped with 
Tesla batteries absorbing sunrays
And converting them into energy
Of life then hanging itself on a branch
Upside down like crucified Peter
Slowly transforming into green
Magical shell that guards miracle
Of inexplicable transmutation
Happening inside steadfast cocoon
Where a caterpillar’s sleepy form 
Mysteriously being transformed
Into a totally new living being 
With one primary genetic ring 
Holding the secret of life
Around which magical wings
Painted in arresting ornaments
Striking colors of stripes and rings

Butterfly emerges one morning
Out of the shell that she was confined
And flies into the blue open skies
Does it remember any of her past stages
Or each time she starts from the scratch
And sees this world in arresting awe 
Over and over again as if she 
Has never seen it before
Just like we do every time we are born?

Copyright © Ruta Skendeliene | Year Posted 2019

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