For our son we lost to brain cancer 2009:
memorial
a crowd
candles lit
songs sung
words read
memories shared
hugs and tears
Butterflies released
"Ah!" breathed
in unison
Monarchs
so rare
filling the air
for those few moments
with their delicate
flittering wave
wafting in a clear royal sky
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
one week
at home
family of four
intimate sharing
candles lit
words read
words spoken
memories shared
wineglass toast
eyes drift to the window
"Ah!" in unison
and amazement
Monarch
rare and magnificent
out the window
on Butterfly Bush
posed at that very moment
for us to sense
his transformation
This was extremely hard to put into a poem and it needs work. It really happened. We rarely see Monarchs as they are becoming rare. Since our son was a hobbyist photographer who loved taking pictures of butterflies, bees, etc. on flowers in my garden, we thought it appropriate to find and order butterflies to release at his Memorial (which we held on his birthday). When we had our own private "memorial" the following week, we were astonished when this one appeared just as we were finishing. It was the only one we saw that year. The following summer I had an especially dark day...went out to the garden and there he was...again the only one I saw that year. The third year it happened again. The fourth year two appeared together and that was the last I've seen. (I may just not be out there at the right time, but the serendipity of these encounters was awesome and significant to me!) The title comes from the last line of "Advice From a Butterfly" with a picture of a Monarch.