They danced
For you those butterflies
Made of bright light –
Your dark interior
They've enlightened.
A beautiful poem Fabrizio.. I loved the idea about how you used 'butterflies/ Made out of bright light' as a metaphor for hope as Daniel suggested. The use of the word 'enlightened' also made me wonder if those butterfilies suggest a kind of knowledge - - perhaps about one's own self - - that, when acquired the person referred to in the poem actually made a journey from ignorance to knowledge, from a vague, incorrect understanding of his own soul to a proper one... Please tell me your opinion on my interpretation friend.. And once again, it's a poem as beautiful as butterflies themselves :)
yes, Souren, you got the point. Butterflies are a metaphor for both Hope and Knowledge. Those butterflies are made of pure light.. It means Knowledge of the world outside and also of the inner self.. for what is possible to know.. The heavenly butterfly has got a brief life.. When in sunlight, its wings show the true hues of the universe.. but it's a chromatic play.. without light no hues are there..
''a tree flowering with Monarchs''.......wow! the beauty of Nature.. exactly what us - deranged human beings - are so mad to destroy.. Thank you, Daniel!
This is the ever-desired movement from darkness to light. In this case creatures of light, a poetic perception of butterflies, lead a profoundly depressed person to an experience light will transform his life.I once saw the Russian Olive tree in my parents' back yard completely covered with Monarch butterflies, pausing on their flight to Mexico. You could not see a single leaf, it was a tree flowering with Monarchs.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
The first tanka poemI have read, and now I know the form. A fine play on words: ' They've enlightened'.
thank you, Michael. I love Japanese poetry, indeed - both haiku and tanka form.