Last Dance of the Butterflies

There is a stillness and heaviness of air
in the lazy drips of last long days
in the teetering weeks that lead to autumn.
Sweetness is sharpest before apples sour

and sky is heaviest,
overfilled with the growing we have done,
humid with clouds of our hot breath,
tired as we are tired from trying to earn the blessings of the sun

exposed summer-long in the clarity of its burning eye
when we too are meant to be our greatest, our most aflame.
Butterflies laze on the heights
of brightest flowers that mirror their pigments

easing to rest now, their glory told,
only occasionally fanning their wings,
as though heat subsides,
to pay final visits to blooms they bloomed with,

drifting gently about their patch of meadow
in hazy circles from nectar to nectar
with the casual, melancholy trust
of old friends soon to part,

as family of their flutter farewell petals of their own.
It is as though
this last dance of the butterflies
turns the seasons,

the world’s colours from green to gold.

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Nicola Currie

NICOLA CURRIE is a multi-genre writer and poet from Cambridge, England. She writes fiction and poetry for both children and adults and her work can be found in various anthologies. Her poetry has been published in magazines such as Mslexia, Sarasvati and Sylvia. She has also completed her first children’s novel, which was longlisted for the Bath Children’s Novel Award. Her fantasy novella, The Cloak of Kings, was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her first sci-fi dark fantasy novel for adults, Those of the Light, was published in September 2021.

Website: https://writeitandweep.home.blog/

Twitter: @Speculative_Nic and @nicbic1114 (for children’s fiction)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NicolaCurrieAuthor

Latest posts by Nicola Currie (see all)

• Last Dance of the Butterflies - 9th September 2022
• Timekeeper - 14th February 2021