Butterfly
 

i am stripped
like a bare winter branch
waiting for your caress, first light
my secret nature is awakening
and preparing to bloom

i wear you
like a second skin
your gift of safe harbor
shelters me from the ruin
of my own dark abyss

i wrap you round
like a feather overcoat
a perfect fit
warming me within, without
while i walk my strange, crooked path

i hover on the brink of your sun
like a faded constellation
fearing, needing
daring to hope, coming undone
but learning to shine

i delve into you
like a tattered, spent moth
enveloped in your seductive cocoon i metamorphose
and prepare these trembling wings
unfolding them for flight

© Terri Peterson/San Francisco