Finding the Way

A large, beautiful, black and yellow Malachite Butterfly flew into the swimming pool cage while I was cleaning the pool deck. Knowing it could not survive if trapped inside without food or drinkable water, I tried to coax and guide it back out through the door. But it heeded not my words of encouragement, and fluttered into a panic when I tried to guide it out using the pool skimmer like a butterfly net. Rescue attempts futile, I sadly closed the door to avoid trapping any further butterflies, and fully expected to find the desiccated carcass of the creature the next morning.

To my delight, it was alive and well the next day and flying about the cage. With hope rekindled, I crept carefully towards the door and opened it wide, then got out of the way. The black and bright-yellow bug bounced on and off the cage screen as it fluttered along, slowly making its way towards the doorway. Then it hovered in the opening, and I silently gasped, “Oh please!’

With a flick of its wings, it soared through the door and descended rapidly onto the lawn where blades of grass held glittering drops of water. I stepped outside, closed the door, and watched as it imbibed the life-giving water. Then it arose in flight, circled around towards me not once, but twice, passing inches from my face before sailing around the house and disappearing. Was it saying thanks, or was it just exuberant to be free. I don’t really know, but I do know what I choose to believe.

Then came the epiphany; I had tried to tell it how to escape, but it could not possibly understand. I had tried to force it to do what needed to be done, but that only threw it into a panic. The best I could was to simply to open the door; the rest was up to the butterfly.

#butterfly #malachitebutterfly #freedom #findingaway