Swallowtail
By Elece Hollis
All among the flowers
She fluttered, she flew and she lit,
Again her wings opened and closed like doors
On hinges
Windows that know the sky, the wind, the voice
Of the creator who called her from a chrysalis
Before that from an egg on the underside of a leaf
From the egg she crawled a caterpillar
Along the leaf eating, eating—so hungry
Always full and still hungry
To the under-edge of a twig
To wait and grow—curl up inside a tiny room where
She sleeps, she waits again and longer until the day
She fits no more—her natural plastic splits
Off she goes and her wings expand with fluid pumped in
Her moist wings dry in the warm sun
She flaps them the first time
Flies off to be somebody’s miracle,
Somebody’s message,
Somebody’s angel
Somebody’s delight.
Now she is mine.
©2014 Elece Hollis , author of Meet God in the Morning, Poems from the Heart of Prayer,
a devotional book with poems by Helen Steiner Rice. Find this book.
Fabulous imagery in your words. Thank you for this outstanding poem and the images that accompany it.
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The third picture with the swallowtail with wings partially closed is my favorite. The poem is nice!
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Thanks Rebecca, I have always loved butterflies. This is a Spicebush Swallowtail. There are lots around here and I took these photos in Fayetteville, AR.
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Yes Thanks. I like that one too except the red truck in the background shows up bright.
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