Butterflies

Every day
as I drive home from work
I see dozens of
little yellow butterflies.
Beautiful little creatures,
seemingly floating
from place to place.
Amazing little creatures, really.
They spend most of their lives
as little caterpillars,
eating their way
slowly through life.
Then they seal themselves
up in a cocoon
and emerge as
beautiful creatures
that fire the imagination.

Their lives are brief,
at most days.
Their sole purpose
in life seems to be to reproduce.
Yet something about these
creatures creates a sense of
mysticism and magic.
As they float
from flower to flower,
you can almost see
the fairies of old,
trailing pixie dust in their wake.

In other ways,
they seem to symbolize
much in our culture.
Living a quick
but fulfilled life,
and leaving a beautiful corpse.
Unless of course,
they end up splattered
across someone’s windshield.