Poem, Catching Butterflies

This is a dark, introspective poem, but it has a happy ending. It may not be the way the world works much of the time, but for me, a difficult journey should end in the light.

Catching Butterflies

Zen masters will tell you, this too will pass, let it go, be free of attachment

Christian priests will proclaim the love of God as the ultimate importance

If you’re lucky to have friends, they will stand by to feed your drama

Give you a warm shoulder that seems hollow despite flowing tears

If you’re lucky to have no one, you will wrestle with yourself

Try to separate the ego from the divine, pretend you’re a dream

You will yearn perhaps to grab the wind, hold the sky,

You will think perhaps if only I could catch a butterfly

And as you fall back into hard surfaces

As you grow tired of punching holes in air

Do you drop onto the kitchen floor and do your cocaine

Do you remove the gun from the cabinet, drop bullets in your hand

Do you mutter under your breath, honk your horn, cry with Oprah

Do you recycle wine bottles, count beer cans, burn the white ends

Do you head out the swinging door, run down cats, run till you drop

Do you pretend you’re a punching bag with the sand running out

Will you step into fantasy, the only place you know to be true

Will you search for the end of the rainbow always right ahead of you

The sun may finally rise in the west, superheroes for all

The band may play in your head, the music will finally work

You will bend over bricks, slap on the mortar, and do it again

If you don’t have to see, hear, touch, the truth will be preserved

You will lose track of what’s real and what’s not

You will scream, dismiss yourself, wave tired arms

You will see through cloudy eyes

You will doubt that love exists outside stale thoughts

Maybe, you think, I’m just not cut out for this strange, silly thing called life

Maybe, you think, I’ll just stay on the yellow brick road to its dusty the end

Maybe, you hope, you’ll meet someone who’ll hold your hand, not let go

Maybe, you hope, despite all the contrary evidence, you’re not alone

And you leap into the air, higher than ever before

Catching the fractured light down to your hidden shadowed core

You see at last what you chased but could never fully hold

The love always within you wrapped in a heart of pure gold