The Actor, The Villain, The Butterfly

I enjoy having the ability to post my original poems on Medium. Posting poems on this forum is the beginning of a new journey for me. The poem below considers death as a human condition, a condition of all life, really. But for humankind death is something that is central to how we think about living; unlike perhaps other creatures that live unencumbered by philosophical irritations that distract from simply getting on with life. I hope you enjoy the poem below, and the photograph of a butterfly that visited my yard on August 16, 2020.

The Actor, The Villain, The Butterfly

In this one part of life’s eternal work I am Love’s
appointed actor fighting the villain that brings to all
an insidious decay. Each final scene, perhaps, is cast unswervingly
as preordained in a cosmos that makes the larger play.
But even so I have hope of some small victory in the battle I fight
because I have seen the butterfly on the wing of destiny’s
infinite stage — a butterfly spiraling upward toward my mark.
Yes, yes, I see the butterfly.
And if I am nectar on iridescence, the butterfly
will see me. I know in the murmur of my consciousness
that I cannot die while I am seen by one of destiny’s
most beautiful designs. To be seen is to live; and now
is the time for me to sparkle in every light — to outshine
the villain from doom and his companion,
the…