She was strong
When what
She really wanted
Was to be delicate
Like a butterfly

And so that’s
What she let
The world see
A delicate butterfly

But the world
Had taught
Her lessons
She never wanted
To learn

It was no place
For delicate butterflies

And so
She would teach
The world
Her time
For delicate
Was over

She was now
A strong
Beautiful dragon
With a bloody mouth
Full of butterflies

Epilogue
Over the years I’ve had many dreams and nightmares about dragons eating butterflies. I have no idea what it means, but the imagery is always vivid. And when an amazing Twitter account that I follow changed her avi to a picture of a woman with a bloody butterfly in her mouth, it immediately caused a visceral reaction, and I was compelled to write this, with her permission.

Thank you @CrystalsChaotic for the inspiration and letting me write about it.

For those curious, here are the links to a couple of older butterfly related tweets that her avi reminded me of. Almost a year later they are still among my favorite.