The Butterfly Project

Draw a butterfly on your wrist; if you cut the butterfly will die. Keep the butterfly alive.

The butterfly lands, always so lightly,

On my veins, visible so slightly.

 

Black ink wings across my wrist,

Reminding me to give up what I used to love best.

 

The fragile insect, so still and calm,

It will die if I self-harm.

 

Innocence protected if I remain strong,

Hasn’t that been the hope all along?

 

Butterfly, butterfly, drawn with love,

Give me something to be proud of.

 

Never erased, you’ll naturally fade

Maybe by then I’ll have put down the blade

 

Guardian of my precious blood below,

Maybe this habit I can finally outgrow.

Reviews

[Veronica Chandler]

The imagery in this piece is very powerful; especially the your opening comment, "...Keep the butterfly alive." It sets the whole piece into the desired tone and mood. A very good and powerful write. Sorry it took so long to get to the read request, but I have been away from the cafe' for about a year now.

[Dr. Kittin]

Very good and very emotionally connecting! The flow of the writing is excellent and the rhyme is wonderful. All-in-all an excellent poem.

[honeyleens]

Very sad and lovely, showing the struggle to give up a habit that once was second nature. I liked this line "Guardian of my precious blood." Nice write.

[d]

does everyone do this?
it makes me both scared and happy.
this is something to read over and over as if discovering the message for the first time each time

[Miss Marie Riorden.]

I really do know this idea . I've seen it one other place . But unless I have a friend draw the butterfly it doesn't work . But your poem is amazing . Trust me . I wrote one about this same topic . Only it doesn't have a happy ending

[Sunshyne]

A beautiful idea.
Very uplifting.

[SilentVerses]

What a rare beauty to behold, to lay yourself bare with the courage of your fluttering guardian is a beautiful talent. Relating to something so raw, to tell it how it is without the need for the veils everyone hides behind, something I admire. Keep strong and keep writing, as the wing beats of what you hold dear become stronger they will enter your heart and become part of the strength you hold dear. Through writing you feed the beast a calm it can find nowhere else and your butterfly shall have the wing beats of a thousand of its kind. Your writing should make you proud for it is honesty at its best a talent that flows like a symphony of sweet notes drawing only the purest emotions from ones heart.

[Kiari Sabon]

love it

[Ariel B.]

Beautifully written - I like the rhyming couplets. I love the idea of giving yourself a totem of sorts that you have to look after; something to protect girls like us from our own worst selves.

[Plagued Monumentally]

Amazing!
This is completely well written.