The butterfly was told to fold its wings
To tuck its colors into shadows
To hush the wind, it carried in its flight
It was told to hide
to be discrete
to stay tamed.

But it was born for the sky,
Not for the silence of a still garden.
The voice of the earth called out
A rhythm in the leaves
A song in the rivers
A dance in the golden breath of dawn
A happy but short life
dancing and dancing alone in the sky
ready to hide itself from sight.

The butterfly remembered
It was made to move
But not always quietly.

It didn’t need to conceal its beauty
It was made to be seen
To be acknowledged
Chains do not always rattle

Sometimes, they’re quiet like whispers
Soft like gentle ropes
Invisible yet heavy as stone
They told the butterfly to be small,
To perch, to stay still, to blend with the branches.
But nothing can hold the wild

It craved the open fields
Where laughter flows as free as rivers
Where feet strike the earth in joy
And voices rise, unafraid to break the quiet.

There, the air carries songs
That echo into the stars
And the ground invites every step
Every run, every leap of a soul untethered
The butterfly longed for the wind
Of flying far and wide
Of traveling through forests and skies
Resting only to feel the sun’s warmth
To drink from wildflowers of the earth.

Wild, free and alive
No walls can hold the wind
No silence can dim the storm
And so, it opened its wings
Bright like fire
That fire nobody knew existed.

At the end of the day, it’s just a butterfly
Can’t fly so high or else the sky would burn its wings
But little did they know
A burst of color in the quiet sky flashed between their eyes
It rose higher

It craved the open fields
Where laughter flows as free as rivers
Where feet strike the earth in joy
And voices rise, unafraid to break the quiet.

There, the air carries songs
That echo into the stars
And the ground invites every step
Every run, every leap of a soul untethered
The butterfly longed for the wind
Of flying far and wide
Of traveling through forests and skies
Resting only to feel the sun’s warmth
To drink from wildflowers of the earth.

Wild, free and alive
No walls can hold the wind
No silence can dim the storm
And so, it opened its wings
Bright like fire
That fire nobody knew existed.

At the end of the day, it’s just a butterfly
Can’t fly so high or else the sky would burn its wings
But little did they know
A burst of color in the quiet sky flashed between their eyes
It rose higher

The air lifted it higher
And the world whispered its name
A song of freedom
Unbroken, uncaged, alive.

Lamyaa Chaibni