July 7, 2011
A white butterfly
dances before coneflowers,
enjoys its coy art.
Let’s follow this butterfly on its roundabout dance to see what happens on its circles. Across the year-circle we are sent to January 7 (“Inclusion”) where in the haiku this white butterfly has metamorphosed into a snowflake which melts away, becomes one with its opposite. The haiku plays with the dancing images of light and dark, night and day, white and black and their eventual union.
Across the parabolic year-ring to June 24 (“The Rose”), the white butterfly now dances with the circular red rose with its sweet smell and piercing thorns, a union of pleasure and pain. So the noncommittal butterfly will also eventually join in union with the flower to partake in its nectar and perhaps aid in the flower’s pollination.
Balancing of opposites leads to unity of the universe but does create tension. Everything must be in a state of flux or state of change as day transitions into night or a candle becomes melted wax. When our butterfly pollinates the flower, will we see an alteration in the red rose? Will it become mauve, peach or pink?