Beauty

It's rough, but a touch from The Muse.

10 seconds of beauty

I saw a butterfly today

    Magnificent

It's slowly laid its wings

    And lifted them up

On the asphalt before me

A fairy or goddess of beauty

   Blessing only me with

      An awesome moment

Then a crow snatched it up

   In it's dark beak

Didn't even fly away

Just stood before me

   And stared

One bite

   Two

      Took 3 to swallow it whole

His feathers so sheen And lustrous

All the more glorious

Reviews

[Cassie]

This is such a beautiful piece of writing although the beauty was short lived, makes me think...sometimes in life we get things for a short time and before we know it they are gone

[Vertigo Cat1111]

I loved this poem, a wonderful and descriptive one about nature. The way you described how things change is just so beautiful and I loved the potential metaphors with the crow taking the butterfly for itself. It's natural but still sad. And you portrayed that perfectly here.

[T.S. Ulmus]

Thank you for the read and the kind review.

[barleygirl]

This is what writing is all about, being a non-biased observer of life & then translating that into a message. I love how this conveys the palpable up-close marvel of a wildlife encounter followed by the slightly funny acceptance of beauty's demise. This could stand for many things, such as the end of our physical beauty/agility growing old. It's slightly funny becuz of the way you chronicle how many gulps (fresh original touch). That makes this feel a little flippant, not like some dramatic statement symbolizing life & death or predator & prey (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[T.S. Ulmus]

Thank you greatly for your kind and well thought out words, they mean a lot coming from a word Smith like yourself.

[Insight "MH"]

Nothing stays as it is, change is Inevitable, and life may be shorter to some than others, so we must appreciate every moment we have and acknowledge every beauty we see, even if we only had 10 seconds left. I love this, it's so well written, thank you for sharing, MH.

[Kelly Scheppers]

Poor butterfly, going through life, totally oblivious to being on the food chain of another who flies with such abandon. I thought all feathered creatures ate mealy worms? Boy, was I surprised! I've never fancied one animal eating another, but that's the way it goes I guess...the circle of life.

[Chris Shaw]

Beauty is fragile, it comes and goes. You enjoyed those moments and the crow enjoyed his. You also appreciated the beauty you saw in the crow. That is nature for you. On a similar theme I can remember spending an entire afternoon with work colleagues, freeing a pigeon from a chimney breast, only to find that with its new found freedom, it flew into a road and was flattened by a bus. Sadly that's life.

Chris

[T.S. Ulmus]

What a stark review, but I appreciate your words. Nature is a cruel mistress, but we can't avoid her. She gives and takes on her own whim, without freedom or Justice. Thank you for your kind words.

[Delmar Cooper]

One more sappy poem redeemed by gory death. Good job by the crow conjuring poet.

[T.S. Ulmus]

Thank you for your review, it warms my heart that you feel I managed to accomplish sappy and gory in one poem.

[Delmar Cooper]

Not just any poet can do that, you know?

[Ted Kniffen]

There is beauty in Nature, even when it looks you stone cold in the eyes and gobbles down the butterfly you admired.
Well written. I liked it.

[Dhara_Ditzy Kat]

You captured her royal beauty and to us she appears a fairy or a Goddess thrpugh your sensitive, poetic eyes but sadly, she was just a snack to another. I want to feel sorry for her but being a cat, I appreciate all too well, the rigors of nature. Danger lurks everywhere, a peck, a nibble, a bite away. A lovely poem!

[T.S. Ulmus]

My cat, Oscar, has only to fear of foxes. But he's happy to stay inside and listen to their howls in the night, and bother me for his treats in the morning. Nature being simultaneously vicious and beautiful what's the point, and you grabbed ahold of that. Thank you for the review.

[AJNJ]

You witnessed the cruel, predatoryside of nature in action. What nature took such care and precision to create was devoured in moments to satiate a primal, biology need to feed. Crows are ugly creatures indeed. And ugly often eats beauty.