Metamorphosis With Wings Poem by gershon hepner

Reaching upward for the sky,
dim capacity for wings
causes, in those who can’t fly,
metamorphosis with stings.
We must leave, however frightened
reaching for the open air,
tight cocoons, and be enlightened
without stinging those we scare.

Written to a visit to the Getty Museum with Zachary, and inspired in part by a poem by Emily Dickison exhibited in an exhibit, “Maria Sibylla Merian and Daughters: Women of Art and Science, ” at the Getty Museum, and in part by the work and life of Maria Sibylla Merian. In 17th century Frankfurt, Nuremberg and Wieuwerd in Friesland she collected caterpillars, and her illustrations of insect metamorphoses clarified this little-understood process, disproving the theory that insects developed spontaneously from decaying material. Her own life also underwent metamorphosis, because she left her husband at the aged of thirty-nine, and lived in Wieuwerd as a widow, divorcees being unacceptable.


My Cocoon tightens-Colors tease-
I'm feeling for the Air-
A dim capacity for Wings
Demeans the Dress I wear.
A power of Butterfly must be-
The Aptitude to fly
Meadows of Majesty implies
And easy Sweeps of Sky-
So I must baffle at the Hint
And cipher at the Sign
And make much blunder, if at least
I take the clue divine-


8/24/08