Butterfly Memory

Everywhere that she went
Flowers chased her through the air 
As if the dancing wind had sent
The petals to be laced into her hair
And as they intertwined with her locks
She sat and watched them waltz on the breeze 
But her father was in rage and in shock
That this insolent girl wouldn't think of the bees! 
So the flower petals never again frolicked in her hair
But soon the butterflies took their place 
Flitting and skipping with her everywhere 
So that she'd remember she wasn't a alone or a disgrace 
And as she pranced along with the butterflies
In the same meadow where she once watched the flowers 
He couldn't find anything wrong, an excuse, or any why
To drag her from the meadow, besides exerting his own power 
So the girl left forever, but didn't understand why
She must leave a place of only beautiful entities,
For would her father ever lie? 
So all she could think, was the problem must be me 
As her father's rage grew and grew
His kindness withering away
She wished she knew
How to run outside and play
For she had forgotten how to dance 
How to frolic in the flowers of the wild 
For she couldn't risk the chance 
Of her father taking it out on her, a child 
So her ache grew and grew
Her innocent smile withering away
And she wished that she only knew 
Back then that he had always wanted it this way
So she said she loathed the smell of flowers
Despised how the butterflies always landed on her shirt
But it wasn't that she hated the beauty they empowered
It was that she abhorred all those memories of being hurt. 




-anna sluder 

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