Butterfly

Falling ashes of the sky how you flutter
Shut, shy as the lashes of mimosa, how utterly,

Devastatingly beautiful you are. They catch the light
Outside of this breathless cabin in the windless night.

They rest on your eyelids like dust in morning sun
Sparkling and disturbed by the turmoil of your dreams

—What do you see? Can I make it better? Here,
Look at me, the calamity, your doing coming undone

Instead. It is better to close your eyes, not in fear,
But to honour the moment all life in the world

Stills.

When you open them again, unfurling the silken yolk
Of dawn and the bloodied sky, we breathe easier,

Trace the sweetness of the language
Perched on the crook of your smile — I must verify

Again. Seal the envelope lips with a wet press of a page.
I could get addicted to the taste of nervous pulse.

I will send anonymous letters, always, without asking why.
How you ghost a trail of chills innocently across skin. Impulse

Control has never been your strong suit. Through the air,
Guided by careless rivulets of nectar to where

It turns me into a shattered reflection of water laid bare,
Each ripple scrabbling to piece itself back to smoothness.

Butterfly, crush, handle with care or
I will die, fragile heart in a burning host.

Here you have arrived, here forevermore
In your palms I have placed, a place I trust you the most.