Have you ever chased a yellow butterfly?

Its wings like honey in the golden light

Like amber silk caressing your skin

Like the wealth of gold in your dreams

 

The temptation to abandon life

For what you might feel

For what you might have

Teases you like the untouchable hue of its wings

 

But it has vanished and you still live

Resting on blades of fertile green

Gazing as leaves of burnt summer

Fall onto your lap

 

Billows of gray obscure the luminosity

Trying to break through

And as a cold whisper sweeps tresses of your mane

You find the leaves have almost buried you

 

Following the rise of your body

Comes the crunch of nature under your step

The inhalation of wood touched with spice

And the ridges of bark along your palm

 

A blur of brilliant color

Flashes in a blink

And with the sounds of thunder

You ensue the chase once more

 

All you see is the light of one being

The glow of desire and your fingers reaching out

They skim along the lustrous edge

And you shudder from the scorching feel

 

He flutters away

And amidst the velvet blackness

That devours all your sight

You find beauty in the stars

 

Your inability to seize the golden bug

Brought upon twinkling orbs of flame

And as they fade you come to see

Rays of dawn break through the charcoal sky

 

For one would know not of all there is

If they hadn’t taken flight

And chased that which brought them adventure

To learn of its true journey

 

The temptation to abandon life

For what you might feel

For what you might have

Is not so strong when you find light amidst the dark

 

Have you ever chased a yellow butterfly?

The pursuit might seem futile

And nature overwhelming

But it is when he leaves

And dusk has come

That sunrise never looked so good

-Kiran Bains Sahota