Night Butterfly

The sun is setting.

The world is golden with another day gone, and you find yourself wishing you were different. Wishing you were already who you're going to be.

It's 11:11pm.

The night feels romantic, dreaming of a love that shakes you to your core. Praying for that someone to find you after so long alone.

It's midnight.

You're wide awake, aching for love so badly it's painful. But you're afraid. Afraid that even if you find who you've been looking for, they'll see all that you are and reject it.

It's 3:33am.

All the demons are attacking you now. Sleep is a thing never to be found. You're frustrated. With yourself, with everything that's wrong in the world. As you toss and turn, you realize something. You can't control the bad, just how you react to it. You can't make someone love you. You just have to be unapologetically yourself and the right person will stay.

The sun is rising.

The world is golden once again, but this time with new possibilities. You know who you are and who you are not. It didn't take one night, but many to realize your worth. And somewhere along the way, you wrapped yourself in a cocoon and emerged into something unexpected.

Not monarch, nor painted lady. The butterfly of the night. Now you have found your own light.

Night Butterfly is a collection of poems written over the course of several years in the life of its author. They document a transformation from inner turmoil to a firm sense of self, a balance of the head and heart, and finding the light within.