The Butterfly Collector Poem by Alexander Downie

Have you ever captured a pretty, sweet, fluttering butterfly,
watched frantic wings battered against sleeket clear walls?
Have you ever pierced holes in a white steel lid, so that beauty can survive?
Can you imagine its desire to be set free and to deflower beautiful plants?

Have you ever held a yellow Texas rose, a month after it bloomed bright,
watched it wither and die second by sacrilege second, in a Turkish sun?
Have you ever had your heart broken in two, twenty or one, and not past 4 years?
Have you ever opened a jar and seen something beautiful die, just because of you?