A World Without Butterflies

A World Without Butterflies

Kingdom Animalia,
Order Lepidoptera
Class Insecta

Status: declining due to habitat loss, climate change, insecticides

I do not want to live
in a world without butterflies.
Without the intricate eyes on velvety wings,
graceful splashes of color dancing on the breeze.
Airy, delicate keepers of hope
Metamorphic symbols of change, growth, maturation.

I do not want to live
in a world without butterflies.
A place where they only exist
in oil on canvas or silver trinkets on a chain,
in language, legends we pass to the next
generation of memory-keepers,
a place where tiny ghosts have painted wings.

I do not want this world
without the butterflies.
I could not bear the wailing
of flowers.

Kingdom Animalia,
Order Lepidoptera
Class Insecta
Butterflies and moths
to the flame

— and we are the flame

Author’s note: This poem is featured in my first book entitled “organic” which is Fiddleheads & Floss vol 1. You can also view a reading from the book at A reading from organic.

Christina Ward is a poet and nature writer from North Carolina. Her work has been featured in the Cameo literary magazine, the Arrowhead literary magazine, Vita Brevis Poetry Magazine, and in Wolff Poetry Literary Magazine. She is currently working on her first poetry chapbook.