Butterfly Effect
Chaos Theory revisited
A flash of yellow
flits across my window
Then another
and another
Cloudless sulphur butterflies
winging their way
once again
to southern warmth.
Do they know
they are fleeing
for their lives?
Do they know
a single wing flutter
has the power
to create or destroy
a tornado far from
the wing.
Unknowing
unaware as their instincts
propel them on.
As I watch from my window
I wonder how each breath
I take or don’t take
how each word I say
or don’t say
affects someone
or something
somewhere in my world
or the next.
— Patricia Bergan Coe