April's Soul

1923 New Hampshire

Blue-Butterfly Day
by Robert Frost
It is blue-butterfly day here in spring,

And with these sky-flakes down in flurry on flurry

There is more unmixed color on the wing

Than flowers will show for days unless they hurry.

But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:

And now from having ridden out desire

They lie closed over in the wind and cling

Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire.

I never knew this day existed until Adriana told me about it while she was looking at a greeting card site today.

From the internet search I've done, it looks like there isn't an official "butterfly day", so, I'm going to create my own. A few weeks ago I found a dying butterfly. Her body had been broken in half and her wings were torn up and so she couldn't fly. When I put my finger near her feet, she climbed on and I took her home.

April seemed to come to life when me and my daughter talked to her. She moved around more, but, we knew that it was only a matter of time.

I made her a comfortable bed with leaves and dandelions and a twig in a small box with some fake grass. She hung onto that small piece of wood until her last dying breath and her legs finally folded up. Her mangled and torn wings are still spread out showing their beauty.

So, for me and my daughter, I am making April 28 "Butterfly Day". It's the day when my daughter had a butterfly on her shoulder and when that same butterfly touched our souls. My daughter named her April because I found her in that month, she died in that month and it happens to be my daughter's middle name.

This is what April would look like without the broken wings and body. Although April's wind is broken and only half of her body remains, her beauty is the same. I honestly believe that God wanted me to see her and to bring her home with me.

Her body may be without life, but, I believe her soul is here in my house. "Butterfly" is, after all, synonymous with "soul". Now that I think about it, she is even more beautiful to me because she touched our souls in such a short time.

Only after her being with us for a few hours, my daughter said that she is like family. Yeah, I think so, too.

GeekPhilosopher Free Stock Photos

Previously published on another blog, May 13, 2005