‘
If people noticed their natural surroundings more often, I am sure they would find that sooner or later, a small, beautiful winged creature would come along fluttering around the blossoms or just lightly alight on them only to flutter off again. I am sure people see butterflies of course, but we don’t watch them, register them in our consciousness. In short, we take them for granted.
I came across a dead butterfly today while taking a walk around the office campus. I picked it up and it was so light, the wings so soft I could hardly feel it. The powdery dust on its wings rubbed off in my fingertips, a shimmer of gold and brown. I upturned it and placed it on my mobile’s screen. It was breathtakingly beautiful. I suppose we take creatures such as butterflies so for granted, that we hardly care to stop and feel its aliveness around us. It felt wrong because although it was dead, I felt it would fly away any moment now. And, that is because I suppose, I didn’t know the difference of feeling when a butterfly is alive and when it is not. It is such a subtle thing. I guess, we, humans, will never learn the art of feeling such subtleties, such as distinguishing between a breathing, alive butterfly or a dead one. I pushed it ever so slightly to take it from the screen’s edge onto my palm, and the slight push contracted the hindwings under the forewings, effortlessly. It reminded me of contracting wings of an airplane after taking off. The things we humans know and not know. I was amazed. I pulled it down a bit, and the wingspan started to open until I felt it was open completely. If it had been alive, it would have done that voluntarily to keep it afloat in the air and if that is not magical, I am not sure what is. I carefully picked it up from the tip of its wings, took a shot of it, and put it gently on a shrubbery nearby. After all, I am not sure, what is the best way you say a final farewell to butterflies, how to bury their dead.
A butterfly is usually a symbol of fragility and beauty. Beautiful, yes. Fragile, both yes and no. It is fragile because we don’t know the art of handling it and we may easily harm it. But, it is not fragile in terms of survival, carving out a way to survive concrete jungles, with much less natural surroundings to thrive in compared to older days. The fireflies are, after all, long gone from our surroundings. No doubt, the butterflies are not as ubiquitous as they used to be, but they are still around. But, the question is, are we noticing them, caring to just have a glimpse and bless their presence? Or, maybe a bit more enthusiastic and actually going ahead to plant flowers and shrubs to welcome them home? And, if not, I am not sure how long they are going to be around us, filling our lives with a bit of magic and aliveness, as they do every day, whether we notice, or not.