Miracle Soup
A poem for Oneg & James' "Break out of your cocoon" challenge
When you look at a butterfly
Her delicate wings fluttering with bright colours
Do you forget that miracle doesn't just mean lucky
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When you are transfixed by her dancing colours
Awestruck by each finely spun line
Do you forget that exquisite doesn't mean nice
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When you quiver and shine at what's possible
When you admire the beauty you can see
Do you forget the brutality of its design
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When you see her brave the buffeting winds
An impossible scrap of hope and joy in the world
Do you only see her now
Do you forget what it took for her to get here
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Every part of her broke apart from every other part
A living soup
That reformed itself
Made new
And then
She conquered her own fragility
Escaped the prison her former self built
After that her new life began
Where life means challenge, struggle, growth
Where growth means pain
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Oh! they say, A miracle!
Joy! they think,
Wonderment, awe and luck
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They forget the other parts
The under parts
The night before the brilliant morning
The nightmare before waking
The shadow before and behind the bright splash
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The parts that hurt
That break you
Take you
Beyond yourself
Make you
Face terror
Feel it seep into you
It becomes you.
You become it, entirely
Lose yourself, completely
Come apart, totally
Unspun
Re-spun
Made new
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When those gossamer wings tremble in sunlight
Or a mother's arms gently cocoon
A brand new soul
Remember what it cost them to be here
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Miracle doesn't mean free
Everything has a price
Bought for the goodness in your bones
For the privilege of reduction
The fall to your knees
It doesn't come cheap
It comes with a challenge to your very Self
It doesn't just make you go beyond what you think your limits are
It makes you.
But first it breaks you
Breaks your heart
Breaks you apart
Knits you back together
Whether you want it to or not
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She comes apart to bring a new soul through
And knits back together as a new person herself
Just like the butterfly comes apart
And then with great effort, comes through
This isn't brokenness,
this is beautiful.
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When you see perfection
In vibrant hues
Or or the pink newness of tiny wrinkled fingers
Do you see the balance
Between vulnerability and vitality?
Soft wings like gossamer kisses
A tiny fluttering
That brings a storm
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Will you shut your eyes to it
The goo your beautiful butterfly is born from
The soup of blood and shit and fear and doubt
That heralds a new person
And the remaking of another
A mother
The struggle
- body, mind, and soul -
that threatens to obliterate,
Will you turn away
From the gruesome shadow, the mucky underbelly?
Deny the price they paid
For those bright colours and perfect lines?
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Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment to make it easy for me to reciprocate. I appreciate your thoughtful engagement.
I wrote this for James & Oneg's Summer Writing Challenge Extravaganza and I was tagged by Oneg.
I want to give a special shout out to Kayleigh Fraser for this one as well. I've had this idea germinating in my brain since our recent conversation.
Transformation - true transformation - comes at a cost. It is impossible to achieve without that cost. Thavien discusses this in the context of your fictional character's growth, and how it is necessary for them to have their ass handed to them. This is very astute advice IMO!
More from me:
I explore similar themes in this bit of fiction.
Here is something a bit more lighthearted - Have You Got a Minute?
Some non-fiction - E-Readers vs "Real" Books
A recipe, if you'd like something a bit different - Eggs Benedict
And some reviews - Critiques That Didn't Squeak
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More stories from L.C. Schäfer and writers in Poets and other communities.
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Our coffees cool between us on the breakfast counter. You stare at the curls of steam so you don't have to look at me. That's always been your tell. Usually your gaze speaks volumes, so when you refuse to meet my eye, that means you have a secret you don't want to say.
By Addison Alder4 days ago in Humans
Comments (19)
Wow, a really stunning metamorphoses, love the way the motherhood metaphor is integrated. I see the form of the chrysalis in the spill of the lines, so lovely.
L.C. this was so beautifully written! I love the reminder that you never know what's going on below the surface! That people always praise what they see and not the work that went into the transformation! Very insightfully written!
Oh wow! Gut punch! I love it!
Wow!
Wow, this is really gorgeous, L.C.! I think about this analogy all the time, and you have penned (typed) it so perfectly. Such vivid imagery here. A lot to sit with. Wonderful job!
This is hard truth, beautifully expressed. We never question, or worse, tend to forget the price paid for miracles, and the caterpillar to butterfly transformation is the perfect analogy. Well done, LC!
A great take on the challenge, wonderful words
Loving those gossamer lines!!! Beautifully written!!!❤️❤️💕
Ah, everything does come with a price. The bitter truth of life. Loved this powerful poem!
So powerful and very well done! Especially your last stanza. I love that our conversation continued this way!!!! ❤️✨🙏
Mmmmm... butterfly soup. Now I wonder if that's a cuisine in some part of the world. Imagine three types of soup: caterpillar soup, transformational soup, and butterfly soup. Now, on a more serious note You are right about how some miracles need to go through painful, excruciating, changes. There is nothing gained without something being given. An athlete has to be disciplined in diet, regime, and training. A scholar must be disciplined in being well researched. A writer must be disciplined in putting pen to paper from that which emerges from their mind, much like an engineer does to. In order for magnificent changes, time and effort must take place. From the landscape and weather cycles that shaped our planet, to the development of a newly formed life, to the changing of one's habits into a lifestyle.
Powerful!
love this
Beautiful butterfly poem! And relatable! We’ve all been broken! Great poem!
I love this line so much “ Do you forget that miracle doesn't just mean lucky” it’s just so beautiful. Like wow. This whole poem. Like wow.
I felt this one down to my bones. Excellent poem, LC
This is such a good one LC :)
I can see a possible top story here
Love this! It is a good reminder that stuff doesn't come easy and it takes effort (at least that's what my concussed brain got from it 😅).