Once,

when I was a child in body,

I caught a butterfly.

It was easy.

I just waited till it had

landed and snatched it up

by both wings.

It was so beautiful.

I named it "Heart" because

of the pattern on it's

wings and the joy it made

me feel inside my chest.

I would keep this butterfly.

This Heart.

But a terrible thing happened.

The beautiful pattern of it's

wings, the heart of many colors,

was being rubbed off by my fingers!

I let Heart go but she didn't seem

so beautiful and carefree anymore.

And she seemed to fly more out of

resignation than out of joy.

I learned a lesson that day.

Beauty is not something you grab

because you want it. Beauty is

not something you can possess whenever

you feel the need. Beauty can be a

very fragile thing indeed.

I see another butterfly.

She is flying crazily in the blowing wind.

And being tossed endlessly and dangerously

across the sky.

But I have learned my lesson.

I will not grab the butterfly for

fear I'll surely do more harm than

good.

I think I'll simply hold out my hands

and offer her a place to land. A place

to be temporarily sheltered from the wind

and the storm.

And if she lands I will hold her with

the gentleless of touches so that she

may fly again whenever she wants to.

And if she lands I will tell her how

poignantly beautiful she is. And how

she touches me in a place deep inside...

A place so deep that there could be

only one name for this butterfly.

If she lands I will call her "Soul".

© -Jeff B.

With wishes for peace and rest to all of the

little butterflies who were grabbed and possessed

instead of heralded and allowed to fly...