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What the Caterpillar Calls the End

—for those who are becoming

The light grew dim, the air grew still,
The green world closed, the leaf went chill.
“I am undone,” the small voice cried,
Wrapped in a thread the dusk supplied.

No sky, no sun, no place to flee;
The self-dissolving silently.
It was, it seemed, the end of all:
No wings, no wind, no song, no fall.

But Time, that patient artisan,
Worked where no eye, no touch began.
What seemed a tomb was not a grave,
But silence shaped by what it gave.

And from that folded, final night
Came something trembling into light—
Not what had been, yet still the same,
But bearing now another name.

Not crawling leaf but sky-bound fire,
Not end but form the end required.
What death declared, life then revised:
The soul remade, the self-surprised.

The loss had never been denied
The shedding skin, the self that died.
For what one mourns may yet become
A wing, a flame, a kingdom come…

.

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Scharlie Meeuws, a poet born in Germany, began writing at a young age. She studied in Spain and France, writing poems in Spanish and French before settling in England, where she co-owns Thorntons Bookshop, the oldest in Oxford. Scharlie’s poetry has been featured in magazines and anthologies, including the Guardian. Her work was recognized by Nobel Prize winner Vicente Aleixandre. A member of internet writing sites, her poems have garnered awards and a large following, with over 165,000 readers. Her most recent book is The Emotional Robot and Other Poems.

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2 Responses

  1. Alan Steinle

    What death declared, life then revised:
    The soul remade, the self-surprised.

    I like these lines from your poem. They remind me of the poem “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne. (I’m not sure you need the hyphen, though.)

    Have you read this other poem about a butterfly? It approaches the same topic in a different way.

    https://allpoetry.com/A-Conservative

    I also think your last line is impressive. One way to look at it is that the caterpillar was living in a two-dimensional kingdom, but now the butterfly can fly through a three-dimensional kingdom. However, I think you are also referring to another kind of kingdom.

    Reply
  2. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Sharlie, this is one of the most enchanting multi-layered poems I have read that flowed so fluidly. I was left pondering the eventual meaning, but concluded it is multifaceted. At once, this is enchanting, delightful and awesome in its power of inspiration.

    Reply

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