Problem Child

And then they fluttered off like thoughts, unnoticed
Because Rescue Rangers was on tv
And I came back to a gnawed stalk and a split chrysalis

At first I didn’t think to cry about this
Because we’d waited for a while, my friends and me
To see them flutter off like thoughts

But I began to regret that I had missed
Watching them first dry their wings and fly free
Leaving behind the gnawed stalk and split chrysalis

Later on I started to actually get pissed
That Chip and Dale had been more important for me
And the monarchs had fluttered off like thoughts, unnoticed

It became the first of many things on a list
That reminded me to hold close the things I set free
Lest I be stuck with just the gnawed stalks and a split chrysalis

Trips I could have taken, girls I could have kissed
A phrase gone, or lost idea, a sunset I didn’t go see
And monarchs fluttering off like thoughts, unnoticed

I clutch and grasp at everything, try to keep short the list
But ideas and butterflies are supposed to be free
So I let them flutter off like thoughts, but notice
The gnawed stalk and the split chrysalis

- Andrew Snover