Butterflies, Catching the Light

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

This poem first appeared on the blog in 2013; it was inspired by a lovely lady who fought cancer and won a reprieve of several years before it finally caught up with her. One summer, she told me that, if it was to be her last, she would enjoy it to the full, not content to simply pass through like a butterfly, but with every intention of seeing out another autumn … winter … and spring … 

Indeed, no passing butterfly, she, but a true Child of the Earth. When I was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in February 2011, she was and continues to be my inspiration.

To all those having to endure cancer any any other illness, we can but take a tip from the butterflies and make the most of any light in our lives while we can; hopefully, it will inspire us to beat any odds against us and see more of our seasons through ... and never underestimate the power of the human spirit to let us do just that.  As regular readers know, I am not a religious person except in so far as I am a pantheist, but no religion has a monopoly on spirituality, and it's that which inspires the life force in me that, in turn, invariably inspires my poems.

BUTTERFLIES, CATCHING THE LIGHT

Why think of dying on a lovely

summer’s day?

Not a cloud in the sky; birds full

of mischief and joy;

a scarecrow swinging in a breeze,

making us dizzy;

children laughing at grown-ups

too busy blowing on

dandelion clocks to care how

the young may

perceive the rapture of one foolish

moment, finer by far

than capturing a rare butterfly;

light in the eye

like a spread of buttery sunshine

on bald spots 

in the hair, token of forever things;

Peace, Hope,

wings of a kind, like words a child

might find

once tucked into bed and favourite

stories read;

heavens, in perfect harmony with

greenest pastures

though a cancer in the body catch

us unawares

to keep, like the rarest butterflies,

on display

Why think of dying on a lovely

summer’s day?

[From: The Third Eye by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2004]