"the golden butterfly / against the cave-dark"

May you feel a touch of joie de vivre today, despite it all.
May you have a warm sincere hug today.

Relief Depicting Scribes At Work, From The Tomb Of Horemheb, reign of Tutankhamun, Egyptian Museum

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Lullaby for the Grieving

by Ashley M. Jones

make small steps.

in this wild place

there are signs of life

everywhere.

sharp spaces, too:

the slip of a rain-glazed rock

against my searching feet.

small steps, like prayers—

each one a hope exhaled

into the trees. please,

let me enter. please, let me

leave whole.

there are, too, the tiny sounds

of faraway birds. the safety

in their promise of song.

the puddle forming, finally,

after summer rain.

the golden butterfly

against the cave-dark.

maybe there are angels here, too—

what else can i call the crown of light

atop the leaves?

what else can i call

my footsteps forward,

small, small, sure?

From You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World (Milkweed Editions, 2024), edited by Ada Limón.

Listen to the poet read the poem:

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Creative Invitation

Remember, or put down on paper, your last encounter with an angelic essence, in human or animal form.

xo,

Abriel