Butterfly
A shy little boy playing in his mother's garden is suddenly
distracted from the imaginations of his toy truck and action figure, when he
notices a butterfly peacefully nesting on a purple lotus flower. It was not as if it was the little boy's
first time laying eyes on a butterfly while in his mother's garden; but
still... something about this butterfly was different than the others. Intrigued, the boy carefully analyzes every
detail and marking on the butterfly's wings.
Brown was the color of the outer layer with the most hypnotizing rounded
shade of chestnut centered on both wings, as if they were eyes staring back
into the very soul of the little boy... Is this what beauty looks like? The boy
thought to himself.. But it only took a
few moments before the boy grew tired of spectating...he wanted more.. he
wanted to touch the brown butterfly. Curious and nervous of how the butterfly
may respond to his daring request, the boy wonders... Will it stay nested on the lotus flower to
allow the boy the opportunity to fathom its touch, or will it fly away in a
panic like the sounds of guns being fired on a crowded street? But no time to wonder...
It's now or never the boy thought to himself.. He reaches out his finger, slowly towards the lotus flower which the butterfly rested upon, until making subtle contact with the most nearest flower pedal. The butterfly began to slowly crawl onto the boy's finger until fully mounted. ** Something amazing happened. The boy smiled a smile he has never smiled before in his life..he felt warmth in his heart that he never felt before in his life...the chestnut eyes on the butterfly's wings were more beautiful closer up than he could have ever imagined. It was as if he were dreaming...happiness is what he felt. Not the happiness granted from receiving a new toy, or the happiness he got from eating his favorite candy. But this..this was true happiness. But as quickly as the moment began, it ended.. The brown butterfly flew from off the little boy's finger, and over the gates separating the safety of his family's back yard from the danger filled woods. But the boy wasn't ready to say goodbye to this new found taste of happiness...he couldn't....he wouldn't....he didn't. So he hopped over the fence in pursuit of his brown butterfly. He chased for days...months.......years. And whenever he would start to show signs of fatigue, the brown butterfly would slow down and gently land on the boys shoulder for just a moment, so he would never grow too tired or forgetful of his ambition. ...seemingly to remind the boy of the reason he has come thus far...to selfishly motivate him to continue chasing... And every time, the boy would some how summon the strength to get back up and chase some more.. chasing after the beautiful brown butterfly with the chestnut eyes.. chasing after a long awaited dream.. chasing after happiness....chasing after love.. This chase pursued, for until the boy no longer a boy, but a young man. Bruised, and bloodied from the treacherous forest he asks himself..."when will this marathon chase end? Will it ever end?"...the man begins to see past the butterfly's selfish tricks of hope...but he has gone too far, and has traveled for far too long to give up now... he continues onward.
This was finally it...the brown butterfly finally began to slowdown... "Maybe fatigue finally set in", he thought to himself. With the butterfly flying only a few inches away from his grasp.. His acclaim of happiness motivated him to run even faster than before. As his fingers were just about to touch the elegantly flocking wings of the butterfly, he falls.... He falls and lands in a steep pit, breaking his back immediately upon impact. Lying with his back against the pit's floor. The man shrieks of bloodied pain. He begins to cry out.. Is this where my lifetime of pursuit has led me? After all this time, was this the destined outcome from my patience and persistence throughout this love-crazed chase? Is this my punishment for chasing after the beautiful brown butterfly with the chestnut eyes?... For chasing my dream?... For chasing after happiness?.... For chasing love?......For chasing her? In this same pit I lay in, lies the fatigued corpses of the men before me who met a similar faith... As I look up to the sky from my soon to be grave. I see her flying away towards the sunset not with me, but with another....I draw my last breath and die.
