Butterfly Goddess

Amanda Kaufmann

Beautiful Psyche

Simple-minded in that way of children—

Blissful.

Hers is a tale of transformation

From content, doting daughter

To intelligent, mature woman,

Ever searching for her lost husband,

He who clothes himself in darkest night

When approaching the bedside of his wife.

Butterfly Psyche

Hovers at the brink of a bold precipice.

She draws air into her mortal lungs,

Heart beating the tattoo of a frightened rabbit.

She is terrified of the unknown,

The abyss before her, and

She readies herself to trust

The wind that may

Or may not

Bear her safely up

Into the heavens.

Butterfly soul,

Tossed about on the winds,

Fragile wings trembling.

She is bound to a life undesired,

Yet found,

Like the Beauty to finds

A consort in the Beast.

Psyche,

Tell us a story of growing up,

Even when bodies are already grown,

For minds and personalities

Rarely match the physical exterior,

The cocoon,

Of those they belong to.

Psyche,

Ready your butterfly fragility

For the gale of transformation.