Life Rising

Today a chrysalis will crack open and
the planet will vibrate in the shock.
A life wave released into the air
will cause oceans to churn, pine trees on the high
ridge will sway with uncontrollable joy.
Sheets draped over the clothesline will snap in the
virgin breeze that sweeps through creation.

She will extend golden butterfly wings for the first time,
as if the first ever to rise from darkness into Light.
Never before has this delicate creature
encountered a moment that will
welcome and wound.
When her moist wings catch the first breeze,
she will rise.  And so will I.
She will leave behind all that used to be
and she will climb toward the warm sun and the
embrace of welcoming clouds.
She is born for beauty.
Nothing else.

I will follow her as far as my eyes will allow,
until she becomes a tiny speck in the vast sky.
Then, but with sadness, I will release her
to become blessing for other eyes that
will widen at their first glimpse of a golden star,
other voices that will whisper excitedly to each other,
"Look!"

Brilliant scientists can explain the facts
of this brief moment in time.
For that I am grateful.
But, I choose mystery,
infused with sacred meaning,
founded on an unyielding hope
that golden wings rising toward the sun
will always invite us to look up and smile.