I have butterflies in my chest 

I thought I could put them to rest 

stop their flittering, fluttering panic.  

 

a day ago 

a week ago 

a month ago 

a year ago  

forever ago  

they were ugly wormy things 

eating up my delicate heart in rings 

crawling around in the empty room  

the cavity which surrounds 

all beautiful things.  

 

something happened 

something changed  

a tilt of the head  

a smile 

a giggle  

a simple turn  

and they changed to winged things  

symbols of loveliness 

those grubby scars

morphed within that one embrace 

and in that second  

those fluttery feelings 

my heart began to trace.  

 

butterflies in my heart  

a gentle rain in my head  

falling on the crumbly leaves  

in a place I once thought dead 

what once was barren and stark 

now colourfully flashes 

despite, nigh defiant, 

of the dark.  

 

I have butterflies in my chest 

I thought I could put them to rest     

hide them away  

pretend they were not mine 

dark and disturbed creatures 

flittering in the back of my mind

but now I see  

the real enemy,

now I see

I never could  

for they constitute  

the very core 

of the being  

that is 

me.