Thursday, June 23, 2011

POETRY: Paper Butterflies by Jason E. Hodges


 
Stripped down to the bare bone by sadness

An emotion that seems to have haunted me for years

My only comfort is the wings of a paper butterfly

The paper butterfly that wraps itself around me

Its ridged edges, folded neatly with care, block the harshness of the world

Still, letting go is sometimes hard to do

But not letting go is the ultimate weight to carry

The ultimate weight of love is a heavy weight indeed

Like a millstone the pressure will eventually start showing cracks

Hairline at first, then finger size

Then completely falling apart

The tipping point is almost always caused by the smallest of things

Like a river stone smooth and polished from years of being washed over by life

Washed over by what we call love

But when displaced you see its buried side is jagged and sharp

For what’s underneath is always unpolished and uneasy to handle

Untouched

Unwanted

No doubt love is tricky

Making us live beyond our means

Means of what we know as normal

Means of sanity

Love is sometimes a speeding car in which you are the passenger

You can only watch as one finger at a time is removed from the wheel

Then you look over one day and no one is driving

You’re no long on the freeway you’ve traveled so long

You’re no longer hugging the center line that leads you home day after day

Somehow someway you have to grab the wheel and take control

You have to make a new start on a path of uncertainty

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