Butterfly, Becoming

I was born in a world of caterpillars,

where crawling was the only way.

They whispered rules in hushed traditions,

Stay in line. Don’t dream. Obey.

But I felt wings beneath my skin,

silent tremors, colors bright.

They warned me, Change is dangerous,

so I hid them out of sight.

Still, the hunger swelled inside me,

pulling toward a different sky.

A cocoon of doubt and longing

where I learned to say goodbye.

Goodbye to fear, to shrinking,

to fitting in a borrowed mold.

Hello to every shade I carry,

soft and fierce, and bright, and bold.

And when I finally broke wide open,

stretching wings the sun could see,

they stared—some in awe, some in anger,

for I was not what I should be.

But I am air, I am movement,

I am wind and endless flight.

No matter how they try to ground me,

I was born to chase the light.