I once saw a precious baby caterpillar emerge from its egg upon a rose

But for a moment in the beauty before me, I froze

In that instant, time seemed to stop as our eyes first met

His innocent gaze had washed away all of my past regrets

I will call you my little bug

Oh on my heart strings did he tug

Ever hungry, I fed him leaves from the  very same rose that carried him before he was born

In awe as I witnessed this sacrificial beauty that outshone both flower and thorn

Oh how my love and respect for that rose grew that day

The blessings given to me were more than words could say

Each morning I left my little bug in the rose’s embrace

And every evening when I got home I would always stop to say hello and look down upon his beautiful face

One of these very evenings, I found him out of sight, hanging on a stem

He had a hard shell woven around him

In the eves that followed my little bug no longer greeted me

Growing in his own way, it seemed he no longer needed me

Even still, I went out every night to check on him to make sure he was safe

I made sure I was always there for him no matter what he faced

He grew, and grew and grew some more

If only I knew what he had in store

A day like any other I came home to greet him, I watched in awe as his cocoon began to quiver

And then the silence and a dramatic pause upon his metamorphic stage, sent down my spine a shiver

The casing that held him for so long began to split at its seams

Vibrant colors revealed, in the sun he gleamed

I watched in awe as he finally emerged, fully grown wings ready for flight

Both bitter and sweet, my tears I held back with all my might

With a quick beat of his wings he was aloft, and for just a moment he landed on my nose for one last hug

Just before he took off for the skies, I looked into his eyes and said “you will always be my little bug...”