Black Butterfly

You flew singular and black

Amongst the endless acres 

Within the overgrown sunwashed pale concrete

Of a long ago abandoned

Railroad yard.

Trees and shrubs had grown

To 15 feet high

Within the 2 inch cracks

Of weather beaten 

Pebbled pavement

Obscuring a once desolate

Vacant view.

Greenery suffocating

Miles of abandoned railroad ties.

Steel lifted for it’s value

Leaving precisely measured 

Worthless wood 

Bare.

The velvet black of your wings

Was easy to follow

Against such a harsh contrast

Of man-made colors

And the natural hues of greens.

Yellows.

Wheat sheaf-like white

Of the dormant or dead.

The pale summer blue

Of sky

When you rarely flew high enough

Preferring to stay low to the ground.

You led me to the abandoned architecture

Of a water tower

And I was thankful.

Almost immediately

The sky to the west 

Grew dark

And I saw lightening.

It was still clear here.

Still blue.

Black wings fluttered.

You made me feel safe

And I didn’t run.