Darkness and the Butterfly - Visitor's Poem

by Mary van Ede
(Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa)

I sit here all alone, my grief and pain engulf me
like a shroud of gloom,
No matter which way I look, I am surrounded by darkness,
The light in my life is gone, I have nothing more!
Like a beacon, you brought me in touch with my inner butterfly,
But before the butterfly could break free,
You were gone and the light had gone out!
Now this butterfly struggles, it wants to get out,
It has glimpsed the light and wants to experience
The full joy of it!
But the butterfly can't break free; I can't let it,
It will die without the light to sustain it,
So the butterfly's struggles get weaker, I suppress it and it knows,
The fight is futile; its struggles are now just a flutter,
disappearing
As the darkness gets stronger and touches its fragile wings,
There is no light left now, the gloom is blacker than black
Soon the light that was there, will be nothing but a painful memory,
Memories that I might look back on, from time to time;
and after time
I might be able to remember with a smile,
the time that brought the light...
Before the darkness came back
But ... wait, I see a glimmer
There is always hope
The butterfly is still alive
Waiting, waiting, always waiting
just for the right time
for the light to get brighter
to break free!