The sun shone bright and steady like the molten gold,

The azure sky embraced the emerald field at the horizon,

The shadows, the clouds cast, moved swiftly, dragonflies chasing ‘em,

A white cow, head bent, grazed, unmindful of the perched crow.



I lay on the grass, my hands resting behind me, lost,

Whimsical was my mind, I fell in love with everything.

I loved the cow and the crow; I loved the sky and the dragonfly,

I loved the azure spirit and its greenish paramour.


And then, I saw ‘it’, I didn’t know from where ‘it’ came,

Flapping its wings in sheer ecstasy, the red butterfly,

Descended down on those tapered blades of green grass,

Made me wonder, why aint it like the azure sky or the golden sun.



And then, ‘it’ happened, I didn’t know how ‘it’ was born,

The redness it brought in the greenish azure world of mine.

My heart danced to the festive gaieties of this new season,

My legs ran behind it, for I wanted the happiness to be all mine.



I fell to the ground, I hurt myself, I still ran behind ‘it’,

I hollered ‘I am in love before, but I love you more’

The fleeing red butterfly stopped, ‘It heard?’ I asked.

I carefully took it on my hand, I was afraid to touch it.



Its body so frail and its legs so tender,

It held onto me, like it loved me.

My heart started to pour out, I wept, for it reciprocated,

I knew, that minute, the red butterfly fell in love with me.



Under the sun, under the moon, in the summer, in the winter,

We sat under the tree, we sang with the breeze,

We played hide and seek, we were lost to one another,

Time was still, unspoken words, relenting love, it was bliss.



One day, the red butterfly never came, I waited, I cried,

Infinite time had passed and in dejection, I treaded back.

On the way, I saw the wings clipped off, I was scared, found it nearby,

It crawled, it was ugly, not the beautiful butterfly that I’d loved.



‘I am not the red butterfly anymore,’ it said.

I was torn, but I was so much in love,

I took it in my hands, and I walked home with it,

For it needed me the most now, not when it was the ‘red butterfly’ !