Once You Touch A Butterfly Poem by gershon hepner

Once You Touch A Butterfly

Rating: 4.8


Once you touch a butterfly
it often, flustered, fails to flutter,
and cannot soar into the sky
without a sputter and may splutter,
because for butterflies the touch
of humans, friend or enemy,
can be calamitous, the clutch
of humankind’s hegemony.

When touching those whom we befriend,
no less than those whom we betroth,
we must take care lest we offend,
for, whether butterfly or moth,
the ones for whom we care may find
it hard to soar if we should brush
the dust, though trying to be kind,
from wings that, having touched, we crush.

8/3/00

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Uriah Hamilton 22 August 2005

I really enjoy this poem, cruel to be kind.

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Bri Edwards 24 January 2019

i LIKE it. to MyPoemList and into my upcoming February 2019 showcase of PH poems i've found on PH, to be found in my list of PH poems. Thanks. bri (:

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Kim Barney 21 September 2014

Well said indeed. Absolutely true.

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Dan Tharp 06 May 2006

Damn, Gershon... In reading this, I am convicted of the wings I have broken with a careless touch... dan

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Shelley B. Keats 22 August 2005

At the risk of damning you with faint praise, I consider this the most accomplished poem on this site. Thanks for sharing!

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t. h. ashbury 22 August 2005

this is beautifully done.

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