Do you believe in butterflies?

    

Small Copper                       Speckled Brown                   Small White

Do you believe in butterflies?
A caterpillar said.
Butterflies – that we become
After we are dead?

Another young grub nodded.
I’ve seen one just today:
A lovely butterfly with wings
To help it fly away.

I don’t believe in butterflies,
Another one pronounced;
The concept of an after-life
Was long ago denounced.

I’ve never seen a butterfly,
Said he who asked the question;
The only one I thought I saw
Was born of indigestion.

And yet, he persevered, you know
I hold the firm belief,
That though I’ve never seen one
They’re as real as this leaf

And, if we keep on chewing,
And do as we are told,
Then we won’t die, we’ll learn to fly
When we are fat and old.

In fact, he said, it seems to me
That flying would be super:
With that he yawned and spun around
And turned into a pupa.

The other caterpillars stared:
Their hopeful friend looked dead.
He has no wings; he cannot fly,
One to another said.

They crawled away and never saw
What happened by and by:
The pupa split and there emerged
A brand new butterfly.

poem and photos © Celia Warren 2011

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