We are born like caterpillars

Fresh and bright we eat everything in sight

We climb each brown branch that sways

Reaching out for us like embracing arms

Tanned dark in the baking  summer sun

As if we sense that change is coming

That curiosity transforms to new yearning

And we settle into ourselves to cocoon

That we might emerge as something else

Designed to fly unshakable and free

Heading off to new lands and new loves;

Though some never fully escape chrysalis

And drag the past with them as they go

Crushed beneath the unnatural weight

Of former times, best forgotten

Of former people best forgotten

Dreaming of the skies

And fading into the forever blue

Carried away by the wind

Breathtaking and new