Alongside a butterfly

a butterfly followed me today

weaving an invisible wreath of lightness

with his wispy wings

around my heaving body

he floated, shining blackness in

a late afternoon’s

fading sun

and I plodded along a country road

heavy legs of flesh and bone

barely bearing me along the way

She wings by

brushing my sweaty arm

with a silken kiss

my winged companion

flutters ahead

a silent counterpoint

to my gasping breath

oh to be a butterfly, I thought,

recreated,  rewired with willowy wings

From  caterpillar , invisibly  inching along a gravel path

laden with a heaviness of being

to a fluttering flash

in that same waning sun

to feel the fling  of freedom for one fleeting moment,

the lightness of being, the summer air my home.