Butterfly Wings

He slowly crawled along
the weak tree branch.
Happy in his days.
Eating all these leaves.

The days passed by,
and in time he grew bored.
Because somehow he thought.
"There must be something more!"

He saw another one like him,
but it was gone short enough.
In a hard shell, and he wondered
if it was still alive.

And somehow he felt.
That maybe this was what
he wanted all this time.
Something new to do,
To try with this life.

So he hung upside down,
and the world looked different.
And soon it grew dark.
He stood there in fear
As his eyes slowly closed.

And before he knew it,
he woke up again.
The light was blinding,
he felt different.
And the air brushed against
what he now had.

He lifted himself up in the sky.
Felt the wind against his wings.
Against his face.
So this is what it was like.
To learn how to fly.

His colors brushed
against white clouds.
Against their blue background.
He felt the warmth
of the sunlight on his back.

He rested against a flower,
and breathed in his new life.
It was better than way back.
And he knew he was glad
That he decided to try.
///
She ran along the grassy fields.
Blowing bubbles as she did.
And she fell on a bed of flowers.
Spilling all the contents
of her bottle of soap.

Hair was brushed away,
and she saw bright greens and blues.
On the wings of a butterfly.
Against the pinks and purples.
Of the flower it was on.
And before she knew it
she reached out a hand to get it.

But suddenly she was kicked down.
By her brother who always seemed
to laugh at all the things she liked.
As he pulled away that butterfly.

He took it away, smiling the whole time.
As he kept it in a jar,
denying its right to fly.
And his laughter echoed in its ears.
As it watched the world around him
as it slowly died.

He kept it on a wall.
To preserve its pretty wings.
Its beauty was a curse.
It only got to fly once.
Looks like it wasn't a better life.
That poor, poor butterfly.