Fly, Butterfly!

Fly, Butterfly!
By Brian Looney

Vindictive gasps, ceremonial clods
Bombard the pulsing caccoon,
Pollute the infant essence.

Decaying whispers
Are absorbed
By young and old.

Pricked ears tick.
Process commands.

In hypnotic repetition.

Eyes close
Heads slant upward.
Slack mouths dangle
Loosely.
Breathing intense faith.

So flutters
The innocent beauty
In graceless stagnation.

Officious crinkles
Crawl along
The taut, youthful faces.

Aging them.

Lips twitch.
Coercing tears
Willing devotion.

Torturous despair, ascetic piety
Fearfully forces
Its deceptive presence.

These blind needles
Pierce
Kaleidescopian wings.

In the distance a pale horse gallops.

Tramples, tramples,
Underfoot
A dewy, pinioned carcass.

Robed tradition
Sighs
In relief.
"We will endure."