Psyche, I read

Psyche, I read 

Psyche, I read, 

in Greek’s a soul and equally 

a butterfly 

so I remember once I walked astonished 

through a cloud in technicolour 

swirling and spinning by the Indian Ocean 

some large as my hand, settling, unsettling 

like a cinematic scene

magical as Oz. 

Patamouchi in Tamil

Can you hear them float and fly? 

And mariposa, papillon, or German

schmetterling. 

Always a word to set them free

out of the dull and earthbound 

from caterpillar, chrysalis unfurling 

smoothed and elegant 

in perfect symmetry, the silent souls 

ephemeral as beauty as they flutter 

butterfly. 

April 13th 2025 Hounoux