#caterpillar
The caterpillar was always late,
When the caterpillar would try to fly, he would fall,
The other caterpillars had transformed into something else and grew the most beautiful wings,
Whilst he had been left behind
The caterpillar would observe the other caterpillars,
Copying their behaviour, studying them,
Maybe if he was like them, he would also become something beautiful like them
Though he never would,
For many years, the caterpillar loathed himself,
He questioned why no matter how much he tried to be like the other caterpillars, he would never transform into something as beautiful as them
The caterpillar had copied the other caterpillars so much that he had forgotten himself in the process, with only pieces of who he actually was left behind
So, he slowly picked the pieces back up,
Quietly learning more about himself,
And for once, not looking down
And one day,
He too transformed,
And grew the most beautiful wings
Apr 20
Apr 20, 2026 at 5:11 AM UTC
Butterfly of Virginality \
Spread thy wings, \
& soar. \
Endless night \
Endless day \
Simultaneously \
Entwined, \
Intertwined. \
Forces of Light, \
Forces of Darkness, \
Forces Unseen, \
Coalesce, \
Converge, \
Gather as one, \
For this \
Beauteous moment. \
That a caterpillar \
Might emerge from its chrysalis \
& not give up in the struggle to spread its monarchical wings to soar, \
Reaching heavensward \
Higher than it ever thought it could! \
Oh, But it could dream \
& a dream is more powerful than any words or \
Limitations imposed by reality. \
The Most High God blesses thee \
On this day, \
When you are set free \
From all that binds ye! \
You are set free \
To a fate \
That is much higher \
That is much airier, & much more ethereal than you could have ever imagined! \
To soar upon the Vernal winds \
& reach to \
***** for \
The sempiternal Sun, \
—That is your \
journey, \
That is your \
path. \
Of all fathomed, \
Impossible, \
Yet now it is \
Through the thew, \
Through the sinew, \
Of \
The Spirit: \
Hallowed it is! \
( —Se’ lah)
Mar 11, 2025
Mar 11, 2025 at 12:33 AM UTC
I was born with 12 eyes
they said it would make it easier
to see the light
but it only left me inching
in a fog
hiding from shape-shifting shadows.
So I learned to consume the dark
with my mandibles
and let it seep in to my hemolymph.
The parasitoids laid out fences
of peppermint and lavender -
trying to cage me.
But the oak tree took me in
and let me rest upon her leaves -
told me to shed my old skin.
I hung myself upside down under her branches
tried to see the world from their point of view
but there was still so little light,
and the birds were cawing
threatening to have me for breakfast.
I learned to hold myself tightly,
wrapped in imaginal discs
that liquified my dreams
into a rich soup for me to drink.
I emerged
soft and wet -
with ommatidia that see in all directions
and bear witness to invisible colors;
and with wings formed like dragon scales,
that move in the shape of infinity.
Now I feast with my feet,
feeding on nectar of Chloris
and cross continents
while they marvel at how far I have come
from the ground they tried to keep me on.
May 8, 2025
May 8, 2025 at 9:57 AM UTC
Green on green, the grub
eats its way to the calyx --
to change colour there.
Dec 9, 2024
Dec 9, 2024 at 3:57 AM UTC
A lowly caterpillar
Inching her way to a leaf
She spins her chrysalis
The sun rises and sets many times
But she does not see it
Because she has hidden herself away
In her cocoon
But finally
She begins to emerge
And she is no longer a lowly caterpillar
She has grown wings and can fly away
To a better reality
Sep 11, 2024
Sep 11, 2024 at 6:43 PM UTC
One of the first things I learned
Was that caterpillars break out of their cocoons
And become beautiful butterflies.
So I tried.
I tried
Tried and tried.
I wanted to break out of my shell
But I never could.
Or maybe I’m not brave enough
Maybe I just entered my cocoon
And I’m about to break out of it
I just need the right amount of courage.
Dec 12, 2021
Dec 12, 2021 at 12:22 PM UTC
**** it, did you just light your hookah?
I was hoping to have a cozy chat about the world of the Red Queen
Not the Mary Jane land you think to lead me into
where you live out your lust-filled dreams,
I was hoping for a little bit of tea
and gossip,
just as we used to when we were younger and unknown
I don't want to sit on the wet grass while you boast about your brain size
--Or other measurements--
the talk always ends up
with you under the mushroom,
giggling like a hyena,
and me just standing there,
tapping my slippered foot in disgust.
Oct 27, 2020
Oct 27, 2020 at 2:28 AM UTC
a curious family of raptor children, a lake of caterpillar carcasses (boulder soup), a grocer for the taliban, gas powered anything, the exposed midsection of a tree, bank robberies or bear maulings in progress, triangles, an irascible bus driver thinking in isosceles, the itinerant story of a mama mammoth, starquakes and extinctions, massive roaches, a neck bath in hot breath, sudden abeyance from behind, the way gravity kills caterpillars and spares us because all angles of gravity make 180 degrees and this is stillness. fear running a straight line from behind us, through us, and in front of us. what i consistently get caught up in, the third point might be my final resting. this is why i ******* hate triangles.
Jul 19, 2020
Jul 19, 2020 at 6:33 PM UTC
we all have a caterpillar somewhere inside
that spirit that wants, but it just can't decide
there are roadblocks and hurdles that get in the way
where will your caterpillar take you today
what will you be when the caterpillar selects
we all hope for the Monarch, DO we get, what we get
Brian Hill - 2020 # 119
Apr 28, 2020
Apr 28, 2020 at 10:36 AM UTC
Caterpillar
Caterpillar
Oh little
Beautiful
Caterpillar
Cocooning away
In my back garden today..
Apr 19, 2020
Apr 19, 2020 at 7:58 AM UTC
When stars appear in the sky,
under a dark late night,
Could you hear a dialog between Caterpillar and Butterfly?
Caterpillar: "Aren’t you too beautiful for me,
fly away and find someone as beauty as you.”
Butterfly: "I will not leave you,
you are as beautiful as me."
Raised his voice, Butterfly looked into Caterpillar’s eyes:
“Why did I ever lose you?
Although they say everything has an end,
nothing will last,
Nothing is meaningful,
except think about the past....”
Caterpillar replied to him with a melancholy tone:
“why is the world moving fast?
Shall we live in the moment like they say...
Live in the moment - it'll be best to stay.”
They are hugging and chanting on a giant leaf—
Whose images are kept in store?
By memory, we are all alone.
And if rhyme is outmoded.
Shall I transform it to you,
re-grow.
Past is in the future
where it converts to the present,
with you...
Feb 25, 2020
Feb 25, 2020 at 3:22 PM UTC
Even the gracefully beautiful
Sonnet inspiring
Adult butterfly
Started out
As an awkward unruly
Eat you out of house and home
Kid caterpillar
Nov 14, 2019
Nov 14, 2019 at 6:09 AM UTC
Falling, falling, falling,
forever
or is this
G
N
I
T
A
O
L
F
towards a shimmer in the distance
like a wind that carries a dead leaf
whispering through the chimes
that fall upon deaf ears
as if the message was sent
and it just wasn't heard
No, this is f
a
l
off l
the i
precipice n
g
as I watch the sky
march round in a funeral procession
of our history
F L O A T I N G
in this disorienting gravity
S E D U C I N G
in this magnetic propinquity
T E A R I N G
in this psychosomatic schism
every storm proceeds an epoch
of pleasure
as if pleasure
is an
Grecian artifact
in the backdrop of Ovid
The caterpillar
of Like
of Love
of Hate
cocoons into insouciant
vicissitudes
Y.
A
W
but refuses to fly A
Oct 22, 2019
Oct 22, 2019 at 11:48 AM UTC
In lieu of being fake, I don a glass mask.
Observed, a brittle basket case full of sass
blinded by the rays in which we bask.
A riddle whose answer you need not ask
because I am already clasped behind your back.
That itching thought
of which is oft ignored; through a mind it may bore and crack.
If judged so, daft recognizes daft,
realizes life lays down sordid tracks.
When elegance is noticed be appreciative of the act.
Wings spread; flappable;
something else now, as a matter of fact.
Sep 8, 2019
Sep 8, 2019 at 3:49 PM UTC
EGGS,
Why don't we go back from the start?
Where we met near the leaves.
CATTERPILLARS,
The stage when always being fed with love.
PUPA,
We started to change.
Our love was becoming mature and continued to grow.
Always afraid of being let go.
BUTTERFLIES,
You spread your wings and started to fly.
All you did was to make me cry.
Our love was full of colors,
But you flew to another flower.
Just like a life span of a butterfly,
It only lasts for two weeks,
so our Love is.
Aug 27, 2019
Aug 27, 2019 at 7:01 PM UTC
Moth or butterfly?
It isn't the caterpillar that decides
Aug 20, 2019
Aug 20, 2019 at 9:38 PM UTC
There is a caterpillar inching his wee body across a leaf that fell, somewhere.
Gently existing, almost alone.
The winds could **** him.
The rain could **** him.
The dirt full of other bugs could **** him.
So many things, all around his wee little existence...
So very vulnerable, and nearly alone in a world full of life...
But that caterpillar inches his way through the leaf, eating and inching his way through his path.
Because his path will lead to a cacoon.
And a cacoon, though even more vulnerable, leads to transformation.
And when that caterpillar cracks through that cacoon, the shell that, although made him weak and easy to **** stuck, and seemingly obsolete, it also caused him to shock the world.
He will become a butterfly.
And some will see him as unworthy, still.
Most, honestly.
But haven't you ever heard...
A butterfly can flap their fragile little, beautiful, wings and create a hurricane big enough to change thousands or millions of lives somewhere.
Setting in motion events that may not have happened if he weren't there. And in all events, something important is revealed; which ultimately makes him just as important.
So in conclusion, he may be small, weak, unappealing, vulnerable, boring, easy to **** break, or bury...but he also has a transformation.
He is delicately dangerous, a gentle healer, and a permanent inspiration in many lives.
He was important as a caterpillar.
He is important as a butterfly.
Jun 17, 2019
Jun 17, 2019 at 11:53 AM UTC
The phone is ringing
but I don't want to get out of bed.
I'm a caterpillar stuck in a cocoon.
It's not my time to flourish -
no one else is home.
So I guess I have no choice but to be the butterfly
Then crawl back into my casing once more.
Mar 2, 2019
Mar 2, 2019 at 1:02 AM UTC
Once there was a lost and lonely caterpillar
Searching for her glitter
But then She found you
Who helped her break through
Allowing time
To help her climb
You sheltered her, helped her transform
Which gave her the power to get through the storm
Letting her bloom
Away from the fumes
Now she has wings
It’s time to cut strings
No looking back
It’s time to unpack
She’s finally found her way
No more sky’s full of grey
No longer scared of the moon
This butterfly no longer needs her cocoon
Co written by
Lucy Burdon and Coco 07
Feb 1, 2019
Feb 1, 2019 at 8:18 AM UTC
The caterpillar,
slowly eating at the steam
of the leaf..
Knowing that it will fall,
but eating never the less.
Were an extinction level event,
slowly eating away at
life.
And we will like the caterpillar fall...
Jan 28, 2019
Jan 28, 2019 at 4:23 AM UTC
I turn to goo
Trapped inside my mind
Powered by empty thoughts
And nonexistent pain
The sun burns a hole
Into my cage
An untold promise
Jan 1, 2019
Jan 1, 2019 at 11:55 AM UTC