Butterflies

by samanthaleigh66

March 4, 2015

Why is it that the common expression is

“Butterflies in the stomach”

When referring to a feeling of apprehension

Of both good and bad varieties?

I find the experience is much better described as, say,

Cold-fingered doctors, prodding at you from the inside, or

Perhaps as waves of hot-footed tap dancers performing

From deep within your digestive tract.

And I would also argue that

All situations do not generate the same response from inside.

Waiting in line for a high speed roller coaster is very different from

A medicinal skewering (It helps, they promise.)

And that is very different from the plummeting felt

After being handed a test that might as well be written

In a foreign language.

Sometimes, I am visited by leaping penguins

Fresh from ice cold glaciers

Other times I have the honor

Of a traveling team of fire breathers

Setting up shop in my stomach. (They seem to like to visit in very inopportune situations.)

Some of these sensations can be described as pleasant

While others are unbearable.

One thing is certain,

The feeling from within the pit of my stomach when

I am about to see you

Is indescribable

and unique.

It starts out with a rush of heat

Traveling from head to toe

In a matter of seconds.

It is closely followed by a coolness

More refreshing than

Ice cold water after being lost outside on an eighty degree day

My entire body seems to rise

And everything is as though it is floating

All grievances and tribulations are washed away.

And replacing it is,

A gentle fluttering

A soft brush from fragile wings

Almost as if a small creature has taken flight within me

Or no,

Like many have and all are competing for the best seat to

The spectacle that is about to occur

Almost as if-

Kind of as though-

There were...

Maybe butterflies isn’t such a bad expression, after all.

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