We
met unexpectedly on the lawn of my home. I feared I was witnessing
the end of the delicate creature’s life as it struggled and tripped
through the blades of grass. The swallowtail butterfly appeared as
if it was struggling to continue it’s course and my childish
wonder made me pick it up. I cradled in my two hands and wondered what
lay ahead.
As I walked upstairs to my apartment the swallowtail
slowly came back to life and began moving in slow motion across the
palms of my hands. In my wonderment and astonishment, I couldn’t let
the moment pass without capturing it’s image; believing that
if these were the last few minutes that we’d have together, I
wanted a visual record of the event.
Once we arrived upstairs, the
butterfly perched on one of my planters and allowed me to photograph
it as I wished. Soon thereafter it fluttered to the floor and I continued
to follow it with my camera lens intrusively close to the little being.
I had left my door open and the swallowtail began making it’s
way to the door and the wide expanse of light. It made it’s way
up my door jam and moving more rapidly, before I knew what was happening
- it took flight .
The entire encounter didn’t
last longer than ten minutes but it was one of the more memorable events
of that month. In retrospect it may have been some lawn-care chemicals
that began the downward spiral for the little creature but I’d
like to believe that we were meant to have that brief yet memorable
interaction.
