I ran across this and a few other short
pieces I wrote while going through a divorce, living in a place where I had not
yet formed friendships…3000 miles from old friends, relatives, and familiar
faces. This was around 1980.
BUTTERFLIES
Holding butterflies
is a bad idea. Firstly, they are
delicate creatures and are easily crushed or killed. Even if they escape death, chances are
they’ll be hurt and wounded by any direct contact with humans. No one knows how a butterfly treats it’s
wounds, but we do know that, once injured, the first thing a butterfly does is
attempt, at the first opportunity, to get away from the source of it’s pain….in
this case the human hand that has caused it’s injury. If the butterfly recovers, it will fly to
many places, but never will it return to the fist that hurt it.
If a butterfly
should land on you, even directly onto the palm of your hand, you must keep the
palm open. The creature may linger for a
while, but usually it flies off in just a few seconds. The temptation might be to impulsively
prevent it by closing the fist. That is
not good. Let it fly away
unmolested. Wherever it flies, but if it
senses that the hand that set it free still awaits, it’s gentle touch, it may
decide to return. But, of course, it may
not.
No comments:
Post a Comment