18 THE BUTTERFLY

Sometimes I catch the meaning of things.  Take
the butterfly you wore on your belt,  ablaze
with sequins and colors of the sun.  I make
it out a symbol of the soul and the ways
our larval selves become something beautiful.
That quote you asked me about—Murshid saying
how the purpose of life is to attain the jewel
of mastery,  which light desires in its playing.
Is it not the perfection of love!  Perhaps
this is why we are here.  But all will come
to nothing if we cannot rise above mishaps
and find our meaning in the spirit's curriculum.
Let us learn from the butterfly and so aspire:
first the soul--then the heart--then desire.