As I descend into my overgrown backyard garden
To enjoy the mild autumn weather
A dark tiny movement near some succulents
At the bottom of the stairs turns out to be
A butterfly: the local orange & black kind
It is erratically flying among the low plants
I idly wonder why it is staying so near the ground
But I turn to my reading and my morning coffee
The butterfly continues to distract me
Fluttering, struggling even, in my peripheral vision
Then suddenly it flits between me and my reading
And lands oh so very gently on my hand
I feel its tiny feet for a fleeting second
Before it returns to the potted succulents
Now I don’t know if butterflies can get even exhausted
But this butterfly looks exhausted
And why won’t it fly more than knee-high?
Is something wrong with it?
As I consider that, I am reminded of not one but two
Atypical videos that popped up in my feed earlier
Atypically, I watched them both
Animals asking for help, both deer
A giant buck stopping traffic, finally leading a couple
Down to a bog where they found and released
A doe stuck in waist-high mud
The buck rewarded the humans with deer calls
And some moments of close contact
What I assume is the deer equivalent of thank you
The second video featured a mother deer
Also flagging down a car to lead humans to
Her fawn tangled in a wire fence
A similar happy ending
Fawn and mother visited
Permitted human pets, and looked grateful
Hmm
Well then
Is this butterfly asking for assistance?
And if so, what do butterflies even need?
I look around, notice how dry the garden is
How utterly out of bloom
Perhaps some sugar water is called for
That’s all I can think of to offer
I go inside, dissolve a little sugar in a little water
I feel wildly uncertain of the proportions
I hope the ratio is okay
I twist a paper towel, soak it with the ersatz nectar
The butterfly is back on the succulents
I place my sweet offering nearby
But it backs off, wants nothing to do with me
I sit down and let it be
Eventually it does land right on the paper towel
Its wings flutter fast as it seems to drink
Then they slow, slow more, slow to an utter halt
There is no movement of any kind.
I watch and wait. Nothing.
Still nothing.
Oh no
Did I just kill a butterfly?
An overdose of butterfly cocaine, so to speak?
But then a sudden flap of the wings and it’s gone
No hovering no flopping no floundering
It’s over the fence
It’s up in the trees
It’s over the top of the house
It’s absolutely fine
It’s Rocky at the top of the museum stairs
Wow
Okay
So yeah
It certainly seems pretty clear
That butterfly was in fact asking for my help
Even though I have no real evidence of that
Even though it kind of seems absurd to think that
I feel that is what happened
I don’t know why it shouldn’t ask for help
We all need allies now
We are all getting closer
Drawn together by a legion of crises
We are off the map, in new territories
Where maybe butterflies now ask for help
Of course, one cannot be everywhere but if
The request comes literally from my backyard
And I have the means and ability to answer the call
Shouldn’t I?
After all these are dark times
Sadly I find myself saying that all the time
But even so there are some times
That are darker than others
This is one of those times
Part of what makes these dark times so dark is
The fall of help
The lack of care
The failure to care about, to care for
Whatever is right in front of you
Whether family, friend, neighbor, stranger
And please, o humans, do not let caring fade.
It must be part of the way forward
All things change and therefore
A disconnected people
A disconnected world
Must eventually come round
Must eventually come back to connection
The sooner, the less suffering
And if we don’t do it by
Caring and helping and
Dancing and singing together
Then we will have to do it through darker ways
Like weeping and breaking down together
(Almost certainly less fun than singing and dancing)
I don’t suggest taking on the whole world
Or even trying to do more than you can
It doesn’t have to be much
You could even begin by considering
Butterflies may be asking for your help
Who cares what is really going on
Why not put out some sugar water
Just in case
To enjoy the mild autumn weather
A dark tiny movement near some succulents
At the bottom of the stairs turns out to be
A butterfly: the local orange & black kind
It is erratically flying among the low plants
I idly wonder why it is staying so near the ground
But I turn to my reading and my morning coffee
The butterfly continues to distract me
Fluttering, struggling even, in my peripheral vision
Then suddenly it flits between me and my reading
And lands oh so very gently on my hand
I feel its tiny feet for a fleeting second
Before it returns to the potted succulents
Now I don’t know if butterflies can get even exhausted
But this butterfly looks exhausted
And why won’t it fly more than knee-high?
Is something wrong with it?
As I consider that, I am reminded of not one but two
Atypical videos that popped up in my feed earlier
Atypically, I watched them both
Animals asking for help, both deer
A giant buck stopping traffic, finally leading a couple
Down to a bog where they found and released
A doe stuck in waist-high mud
The buck rewarded the humans with deer calls
And some moments of close contact
What I assume is the deer equivalent of thank you
The second video featured a mother deer
Also flagging down a car to lead humans to
Her fawn tangled in a wire fence
A similar happy ending
Fawn and mother visited
Permitted human pets, and looked grateful
Hmm
Well then
Is this butterfly asking for assistance?
And if so, what do butterflies even need?
I look around, notice how dry the garden is
How utterly out of bloom
Perhaps some sugar water is called for
That’s all I can think of to offer
I go inside, dissolve a little sugar in a little water
I feel wildly uncertain of the proportions
I hope the ratio is okay
I twist a paper towel, soak it with the ersatz nectar
The butterfly is back on the succulents
I place my sweet offering nearby
But it backs off, wants nothing to do with me
I sit down and let it be
Eventually it does land right on the paper towel
Its wings flutter fast as it seems to drink
Then they slow, slow more, slow to an utter halt
There is no movement of any kind.
I watch and wait. Nothing.
Still nothing.
Oh no
Did I just kill a butterfly?
An overdose of butterfly cocaine, so to speak?
But then a sudden flap of the wings and it’s gone
No hovering no flopping no floundering
It’s over the fence
It’s up in the trees
It’s over the top of the house
It’s absolutely fine
It’s Rocky at the top of the museum stairs
Wow
Okay
So yeah
It certainly seems pretty clear
That butterfly was in fact asking for my help
Even though I have no real evidence of that
Even though it kind of seems absurd to think that
I feel that is what happened
I don’t know why it shouldn’t ask for help
We all need allies now
We are all getting closer
Drawn together by a legion of crises
We are off the map, in new territories
Where maybe butterflies now ask for help
Of course, one cannot be everywhere but if
The request comes literally from my backyard
And I have the means and ability to answer the call
Shouldn’t I?
After all these are dark times
Sadly I find myself saying that all the time
But even so there are some times
That are darker than others
This is one of those times
Part of what makes these dark times so dark is
The fall of help
The lack of care
The failure to care about, to care for
Whatever is right in front of you
Whether family, friend, neighbor, stranger
And please, o humans, do not let caring fade.
It must be part of the way forward
All things change and therefore
A disconnected people
A disconnected world
Must eventually come round
Must eventually come back to connection
The sooner, the less suffering
And if we don’t do it by
Caring and helping and
Dancing and singing together
Then we will have to do it through darker ways
Like weeping and breaking down together
(Almost certainly less fun than singing and dancing)
I don’t suggest taking on the whole world
Or even trying to do more than you can
It doesn’t have to be much
You could even begin by considering
Butterflies may be asking for your help
Who cares what is really going on
Why not put out some sugar water
Just in case