Where Does the Butterfly Go?

By Michael R. Burch

By Steve Corey from San Luis Obispo, CA, USA - String of Monarchs, CC BY-SA 2.0

Where Does the Butterfly Go? 

for the children of the Holocaust and the Nakba 

Where does the butterfly go ... 
when lightning rails ... 
when thunder howls ... 
when hailstones scream ... 
when winter scowls ... 
when nights compound dark frosts with snow ... 
where does the butterfly go? 

Where does the rose hide its bloom 
when night descends oblique and chill, 
beyond the capacity of moonlight to fill? 
When the only relief’s a banked fire’s glow, 
where does the butterfly go? 

And where shall the spirit flee 
when life is harsh, too harsh to face, 
and hope is lost without a trace? 
Oh, when the light of life runs low, 
where does the butterfly go? 

Ebb Tide 

Massive, gray, these leaden waves 
bear their unchanging burden— 
the sameness of each day to day 
while the wind seems to struggle to say