Cold, dark decaying chrysalis,

Encrusted, crinkled, withering;

Green crawling caterpillar dead,

Suspended on a spindle thread.

Released in warm enduring June;

         from black entombment

         thence ascends

         an emergent rainbow

         butterfly.

But close your eyes, and count to three,

And cycle through Ecology

Another ton of DDT!

And what have you left — but Eternity?

                . . . . . . .

I found her once upon a time

above the Earth’s technology;

Visitor of another age—

Of innocence and happy days.

The spring-gliding fluttering thrust

Of her virgin wings—

Kaleidoscopic dust.

Born of the Summer,

A broach for the sun;

Corridor of colour to follow and run.

Nature’s firework frail and light,

Quivering momentarily as if in fright,

Then Catherine-wheeling

         in mock-mockery

Over some rough-hewn rockery.

Oscillating in silent keys

Like a sine-wave through the breeze;

Catching sunlight at every turn,

Shimmering lovely …

Look and learn.

                . . . . . . .

New image of the Life of Christ,

Returning in a blaze of light.

Joyful radiance of Easter day;

The Resurrection mystery …

Power to sustain and overcome,

Transforming pain and death

         and doubt

Into a new tomorrow.