I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly,
or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.
--Chang Tzu

You’re high on driving the red Ferrari
when my trip is the Monarch Butterfly,
so we weekended their fall safari,
and bonded, on Point Pelee,* years gone by.

I marvel you still love me; how you try;
polarity's the pull without the oath.
How does the Viceroy not identify?
The very mimicry benefits both.

Everything au contraire, la guerre to Goethe,
yet every quarrel ends corralled in care,
sustains us yet supports our separate growth,
symbiosis patterned pied-a-terre.

Imprint more potent than the need to cling,
one loves stronger, the grace a precious thing.



© Helga Ross 2006

*Point Pelee National Park Leamington, Ontario:
Most southerly point in Canada, on Lake Erie’s North shore.
A major migratory stopover point in North America.