You often imagine your soul
Transforming into a butterfly
That is, one of 20,000 species of
The kind, or 725 north of Mexico
As a butterfly, your soul can perform
The many deeds you can never hope to
For example, perch on a pink petal
Flap its wings against sunlight
Return to its cocoon to change its past
Or even travel back along the trail when
It was still an ugly caterpillar before it flies
Forward to the dawn of tomorrow
Although unable to fight with an bald eagle
Relocate a whole forest or, more
Modestly, bite off a thorny leaf, it can dance
With an angel for a whole night
Yes, you enjoy being that butterfly, take
On a different shape with more colors
Yuan Changming, nine-time Pushcart and one-time Best of Net nominee, published monographs on translation before moving out of China. With a Canadian PhD in English, Changming currently edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan in Vancouver; credits include Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, Threepenny Review and 1279 others across 38 countries
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