Hmmm, which came first: the flower or the butterfly?
Butterflies and wildflowers are pretty much inseparable. Butterflies rely on the nectar in wildflowers for sustenance and in turn collect pollen and transfer it to other plants. The two maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with the spin-off benefit of bringing joy to our lives through their individual beauty.
And so, in these lazy, hazy days of July, it seems appropriate to show off some of these honoured citizens of summer in tandem along with some quotations that elegantly portray how they co-exist and bring joy to our lives.
The butterfly is a flying flower. The flower is a tethered butterfly.
~ Ponce Denis Ecouchard Le Brun, French Poet, 1729 – 1807
It flies with beautiful wings and joins the earth to heaven. It drinks only nectars from the flowers and carries the seeds of love from one flower to another. Without butterflies, the world would soon have fewer flowers.
~ Trina Paulus, Author of “Hope for the Flowers”
Butterflies are self-propelled flowers.
~~ Robert A Heinlein, American Science Fiction Writer
Which came first: the flower or the butterfly? That falls firmly into the category of a rhetorical question. The more important question is whether we can learn from the symbiotic relationship of these citizens of summer and use it as a metaphor for our own lives in the increasingly fractious and every-man-for-himself society in which we live.
~ Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet
~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.
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Tags: Baltimore Checkerspot · butterflies · Great-spangled Fritillary · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · Red-spotted Purple · wildflowerNo Comments