When something bad happens,
something that brings you harshly back to reality,
letting you know one day
you will lose the life you have now,
look for butterflies.
Two weeks before,
when all was blooming
and life was full of daily walks
among wildflowers,
we took into our classroom
black swallowtail larvae.
This is a dependable cycle,
metamorphosis, changing,
eating itself into a chrysalis,
camouflaged, unrecognizable.
Then like a miracle,
beauty breaks free
out of nature’s cage
reminding us
we long for flight.
Reflections on the Teche 