BUTTERFLY SUMMER

 

I remember well, when we were young

And all those long halcyon days

We spent so many joyful hours

Just idling our time away

Down on her dad’s farm.

They were such happy lazy days

Swinging on that old rustic gate

Fishing in the mill pond,

Pooh sticks on the stream

And roaming the countryside

With nothing particular to do

And a world of time to do it in.

They were truly wonderful days

Pleasure filled days, innocent days,

Before the end of childhood

But that was before those amazing weeks

Of that one very special summer,

So many summers ago now,

When she transformed before my eyes,

A little more each day, into something new

Like a butterfly, emerging from its cocoon

Spreading its glorious wings in the sun

Displaying a previously unseen beauty.

A wonderful transformation

When she magically changed

From the cutely naive country girl,

An awkward and ungainly tomboy,

Into an altogether more graceful being

A beautiful young woman,

Though I was fond of the grubby faced girl

With the unruly hair, wispy and uncombed

But fondness paled and I very soon fell in love

With the beautiful butterfly that had replace her

And with the emergence of the butterfly girl

Possessed of all the wondrous beauty

Of the first flower of spring

We trod an unfamiliar path

And left our childish games behind

Taking our first tentative steps towards love,

A love that was a stranger to us, an alien thing

Yet we stepped eagerly into its turbulent sea

And immersed ourselves in its waters

We knew at once that excitement of first love

When joy was all we could see

And all of our thoughts were only for each other

Sweet moments spent in blissful adoration

Until love was burnt deeply on our souls.

Now when we walk the familiar places

Of our distant youth, as we so often do

We can stand in that very spot

Where first I beheld the butterfly

Resplendent in the sunlight

And say to her with heartfelt sincerity

That I love her still