Are You A Caterpillar?

~ Are you a caterpillar?
Clipping along, alone, slowly making your way?
Maybe getting stepped on, maybe getting home.
~ Are you like the cocoon, that’s wrapped around you so tight ?
Looking like another branch out of sight
Wonder what it feels like to be seen while hiding
~ Are you the colors, showing through that clear skin?
Or something all together again and again?
A childlike wonder abounds
~ Are you aware of the beauty you possess?
Your brilliance shines bright yet gone too soon.
Does it hurt to shed your cocoon?
~ Are you aware of the hours, days, weeks?
Is that why you start over, again and again and again?
I wonder if its difficult to make friends
~ Are you sure you know the route?
How far will your wings take you?
Another flower, another town, where will we find you?
~ Are you often shifted by the winds?
Will you remember the time we touched?
Was a sweet, hot Summer, you tickled my fingers and made me laugh.
~ Are you a caterpillar?

– Jennifer McNutt, August, 2019

I have been fascinated with caterpillars, butterflies, any living thing since I was a child. When I was about 8 or 9, we were blessed to live in a new subdivision for a time and one that wasn’t fully developed for a couple of years.

Just across the street from us were acres upon acres of fields of trees and flowers that melted into an older forest (set of woods) along a steep windy road that met River Road, along the Ohio River. We called it the valley.

My brother, his friends, and I would go hiking and find all sorts of bugs, crawdads, snakes. We would see every kind of moth or swallowtail butterfly. The big black ones with pops of color and what seemed to be the more prevalent, tiger, painted yellow and black. They were everywhere. I feel bad that we did capture some butterflies. We were so fascinated and wanted to learn but I wish we would have taken pictures and left them alone. We eventually figured that out.

One day, we rode our bikes through the furthest part of the subdivision. That moment where the asphalt ended and the dirt began was like stepping into another world.

We walked along for a while doing our normal exploring. We got to a deep part of what could have been a nature preserve. There was an area with some of the deepest, darkest green leaves. Like something we would see inside of the woods, where the sunlight seemed to never touch the ground.

I remember there was a tree, thinking now it seemed as if it was the largest tree I had ever seen, and this huge canvass of vines and bushes and surrounding other trees. All growing together, quite happily. If they were a chorus they would have been singing.

At a certain point we noticed a monarch butterfly and as we moved closer we realized there were 100’s of them. It was the scene in the movie when time seems to standstill. As something beautiful appears on screen, the camera panning to see the actors reactions.

How was this possible? Where did they all come from? Thinking about it now and as I am typing this out, it almost seems like a dream. I wonder for a moment if I imagined it but I remember the day, the sky, the smell of Summer, and seeing them. I remember thinking I would never forget this moment. It was magical.

Have you ever read up on the Monarch butterfly? Check This out!

https://www.fws.gov/cno/es/Monarch/Monarch.cfm

Thank you for reading!