Advice to a Butterfly / Maxwell Bodenheim

Advice to a Butterfly

Aimless petal of the wind,
Spinning gently weird circles,
To the flowers underneath
You are a drunken king of motion;
To the plunging winds above
You are momentary indecision.

Aimless petal of the wind,
Waver carelessly against this June.
The universe, like you, is but
The drowsy arm of stillness
Spinning gently weird circles in his sleep.

~~

Maxwell Bodenheim (1892-1954)

From Advice: A book of poems, 1920

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the United States]

Maxwell Bodenheim biography