father butterfly

my father is a butterfly.

he is not always a butterfly.

sometimes he is a man.

he looks different every time; wears masks.

i don't think most fathers do that.

i don't care what most fathers do.

i wouldn't trade it for the world.

my father is a butterfly,

but his lover is a moth.

is his lover also my father?

i do not know. i never ask.

it is not forbidden to ask...

yet i do not, anyway.

but he is a moth, sometimes,

like my father is a butterfly.

they complement each other.

father says when i grow older,

i will be a butterfly.

i would like that very much.

i have always loved butterflies,

perhaps because of a book my grandmother would show me

with hundreds of gorgeous butterflies in the pages.

(though, more simply,

maybe i have always liked butterflies

because my father is one.)

12.11.2021 | by blumiere