“

‘Tell me, sir,’ Yellow asked, ‘what is a butterfly?’

‘It’s what you are meant to become. It flies with beautiful wings and joins the earth to heaven. It drinks only nectar from the flowers and carries the seeds of love from one flower to another. Without butterflies, the world would have fewer flowers.’

Yellow gasped: ‘It can’t be true! How can I believe there’s a butterfly inside you or me? Do you need to die to become a butterfly?’

‘Yes and no,’ the gray caterpillar said. ‘This may look like dying but actually you will still live. Life is changed, not taken away. Isn’t that different from those who die without ever becoming butterflies?’

‘And if I decide to become a butterfly,’ said Yellow hesitantly, ‘what do I do?’

‘Watch me. I’m making a cocoon. It’s a halfway house where the change takes place. It’s a big step, since you can never return to caterpillar life. And the change is so slow that anyone who might peek in may feel that nothing is happening. But the butterfly is already becoming. And once you are a butterfly, you can really love: the kind of love that makes new life.’

(…)”

― Trina Paulus, Hope for the Flowers

“I Like For You To Be Still

I like for you to be still
It is as though you are absent
And you hear me from far away
And my voice does not touch you
It seems as though your eyes had flown away
And it seems that a kiss had sealed your mouth
As all things are filled with my soul
You emerge from the things
Filled with my soul
You are like my soul
A butterfly of dream
And you are like the word: Melancholy

I like for you to be still
And you seem far away
It sounds as though you are lamenting
A butterfly cooing like a dove
And you hear me from far away
And my voice does not reach you
Let me come to be still in your silence
And let me talk to you with your silence
That is bright as a lamp
Simple, as a ring
You are like the night
With its stillness and constellations
Your silence is that of a star
As remote and candid

I like for you to be still
It is as though you are absent
Distant and full of sorrow
So you would’ve died
One word then, One smile is enough
And I’m happy;
Happy that it’s not true”
― Pablo Neruda

We Can Do This Hard Things

by Carrie Newcomer

There at the table

With my head in my hands

A column of numbers

I just did not understand

You said add these together

Carry the two now you

You can do this hard thing

It’s not easy I know but

I believe that it’s so

At a cold winter station

Breathing into our gloves

It would change me forever

Leaving for God knows what

You carried my bags

You said I’ll wait for you

You can do this hard thing

It’s not easy I know but

I believe that it’s so

Late at night I called

And you answered the phone

The worst it had happened

And I did not want to be alone

You quietly listened

You said we’ll see this through

You can do this hard thing

It’s not easy I know but

I believe that it’s so

You can do this hard thing

Here we stand breathless

And pressed in hard times

Hearts hung like laundry

On backyard clothes lines

Impossible just takes

A little more time

From the muddy ground

Comes a green volunteer

In a place we thought

Barren new life appears

Morning will come whistling

Some comforting tune for you

You can do this hard thing

You can do this hard thing

It’s not easy I know but

I believe that it’s so

You can do this hard thing

“For everything in this journey of life we are on, there is a right wing and a left wing:

for the wing of love there is anger; for the wing of destiny there is fear;

for the wing of pain there is healing; for the wing of hurt there is forgiveness;

for the wing of pride there is humility;

for the wing of giving there is taking;

for the wing of tears there is joy;

for the wing of rejection there is acceptance;

for the wing of judgment there is grace;

for the wing of honor there is shame;

for the wing of letting go there is the wing of keeping.

We can only fly with two wings and two wings can only stay in the air if there is a balance.

Two beautiful wings is perfection.”

― C. JoyBell C.

ON MARRIAGE

By Kahlil Gibran

Then Almitra spoke again and said, And what of Marriage, master?

And he answered saying:

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.

You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.

Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,

Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.

For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together yet not too near together:

For the pillars of the temple stand apart,

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.

“Change is not going to sit you down and ask if you are ready. Change is not going to knock on your door and hand you notice. Change is not going to hug you in the middle of the night and tell you it can wait. Change does not wait. Change doesn’t care if you aren’t ready. It will happen anyway. Change is not always the friend you may want, but it will always know when you need it.
It’s like batman, basically.”

– Courtney Peppernell –

“I will tell you something, about a time that will arrive for you-unexpectedly, risen from the very depths of all that you thought you were-a shift in who you are, so much so, it awakens senses you never knew you had. You will be reminded of your purpose, of your strength to scale mountains, of your courage to light up the sky, of all the reasons you belong to this world. And you will carry this feeling and take back all the roads that were stole from you.”

– Courtney Peppernell –