BORN AS A BUTTERFLY

                                  BORN AS A BUTTERFLY



One fine morn God sent me on earth...
I was eager to know who I was?
I struggled hard to open my eyes,
Stun by the bright light I winked so many times.
I was a little caterpillar!
In a little pool of water I saw in a blur.
I felt hungry and was eating bits of leaves on and on.
Chewing munching all along.
Strange I never felt full.
I kept eating on and on.
Then the sun went to sleep .
I too retired in between mulberry leaves.
I lie there in the cool moonlight,
The fragrance of jasmines wafting through the air,
The twinkling stars in the sky,
All lulled me to deep sleep.

Days and weeks passed by.
One day while chewing on the leaves,
For the first time in my life I felt replete.
Before I could understand,
Fine silky threads came out of my back,
It stuck to the leaves I was eating,
And instinctively I rolled on and on,
Till I was insulated in the cushion so soft .
And there I hung on the downside of leaf, upside down,
Between earth and sky,
Between young and adult,
Between happiness and pain,
Between replete and famished,
Between conscious and unconscious
Time was at standstill.
I saw nothing... I felt nothing...
Thus I hung in that dormant stage,
Like a meditating sage,
Trapped in a soft cage.
One day suddenly I was waken out of this torpid state.
I felt so hot and cloistered,
The once cosy cocoon,
Had now a vice like grip.
I struggled hard to break free.
Something cracked and bright light ,
Once again blinded my eyes.

Fatigued with effort I sat on a bark
I looked at myself,
Wow! I have grown wings violet and pink,
My mouth was protruding and was so long.
My wings were still wet with cocoony slime,
Golden sun rays dried me and returned back my vigour.
My weak wings grew taut and shapely.
Hey a bird was heading straight for me,
I needed to run, I put in all my efforts and lo I was levitating.
I looked down, the big plants and trees now seemed so small.
This sudden high made me feel dizzy and sick.
I alighted on the petals of a red rose for some much needed rest.
It was then that the aroma of nectar stimulated my hunger center.
I eagerly pushed my mouth in .
And the taste of nectar intoxicated me.
The feeling was divine-the joy of carefree living!

The days and months went by .
And one day thoughts of death invaded me.
‘What if I die?
No! I don’t want to forgo such a beautiful life.’
Such thoughts in my mind, I alighted on a Pitcher plant.
Thought of death blinded me and made me sit on the lap of death.
A slip of leg and I landed inside the sticky plants inside.
The digestive juice started to flow on me.
I struggled hard to come out but all in vain.
The poison started to eat me away.
I saw my life ebbing away.
In those last moments with a tranquil mind I prayed thus,
‘Thankyou Lord for such a beautiful life,
Which was so carefree.
I flew around with ornate wings,
With people praising me!
Little children dying to touch me once,
And I was basking proudly, in their innocent love.
I drank the best wine on earth-the nectar,
I slept on the lap of earth,
With moon as mother and stars as sisters,
And the fragrant breeze lulling me to sleep.
It was a life even Gods dream to live.
O god if, I be ever born once again,
Then let I not be a horse or a bird or a bee.
Let I be a beautiful butterfly with wings violet pinks and teal,
Thank you Lord for such a beautiful life,
Which was so carefree.’