The Dignity of A Butterfly

...did you see the pictures...

The Dignity of a Butterfly

Yesterday I saw a sunbeam

shoot down a butterfly

as it meandered over a field of Blue Bells.

It was amazing

even as it stuttered and fell,

it struggled to keep flight.

I wonder if we could be so brave,

keep our perspective,

continue to fight.

I used to think so.

But then I saw the pictures

showing the utter depravity,

immorality,

illegality

of torture.

My god, they rapped

and sodomize children!

And I realized sadly,

there was more determination, 

spirit and inspiration

in that sputtering,

falling butterfly,

as it met its death

than in all of the humans

whose silence and inactivity

meant complicity.

America over the years

has honed, fine tuned

and mastered the techniques of torture.

Yet, for the most part,

Americans say nothing

of significance to stop it!

And so our hearts have been eaten,

our humanity forsaken.

We have fallen much further,

our lives less meaningful,

our deaths as light as feathers

compared to that single,

simple, yet dignified butterfly!

~~redzone 5.30.09

(Now that you know what are you gonna do!)

  

Author's Note

thanks for reading...
I wrote this after the release of the torture pictures came out around Abu Ghraib prison. One of the "preferred" forms of torture, Water Boarding, was developed by U.S. in 1898 and used against the freedom fighters in the Phillippines. For barbarity, it would be hard to find a comparision to the crimes against humanity committed in the ugly history of the "good ole" USA.

Reviews

[Frieda P]

Not what I was expecting Curt, darkly colored butterflies seem to be plummeting on the cafe, it started out so promising, then took a major dive. I'm speechless & appalled when it comes to human rights violations and these type of atrocities. The CIA & military police should have been held accountable for this brutal treatment, but you know how that goes...protests didn't seem to help, more people just ended up dead or worse...the horrible price of war.

Your words are highly intelligent and very affecting, to the point where I am sickened....and I'm pretty sure we don't know the half of it....outstanding, albeit torturous read, no pun intended.