Once you touch a butterfly <br />it often, flustered, fails to flutter, <br />and cannot soar into the sky <br />without a sputter and may splutter, <br />because for butterflies the touch <br />of humans, friend or enemy, <br />can be calamitous, the clutch <br />of humankind’s hegemony. <br /> <br />When touching those whom we befriend, <br />no less than those whom we betroth, <br />we must take care lest we offend, <br />for, whether butterfly or moth, <br />the ones for whom we care may find <br />it hard to soar if we should brush <br />the dust, though trying to be kind, <br />from wings that, having touched, we crush. <br /> <br />8/3/00<br /><br />gershon hepner<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/once-you-touch-a-butterfly/
