The Butterfly Effect

When the world ends,
I will draw
butterflies
on skyscrapers

in five hundred
colors. I
will give them
their proper wings

so they can fly
over the
rubble of
old city streets:

Painted Ladies,
Monarchs, Tailed
Blues; I used
to know more types.

and as water
rises up,
they will rise
up to the sky,

up to the clouds,
to heaven,
to angels,
to share color

with a world yet
to join the
masses that
drown in the tides.

And they will see
the water that
comes closer,
but will not fear

the waves below
that crash and
rush and cry
out with sadness

because all they
see are these
butterflies:
a mosaic,

a beautiful
masterpiece,
God’s genius
saved in insects.

And when the flood
washes them
away in
a sea of white

the water will
turn black and
remember
they changed it all.

NS 10.21.09