Shed Leaves

Annmarie Throckmorton, M.A.

Jun 25, 2018

When I picked up shed leaves from the floor around my living room Ficus tree, one of them moved, it was this lovely brown butterfly. I thought that it was a moth, but then I saw that it did not have a moth’s feathery or saw-edged antennae, its antennae were the narrow shafts with a bulb at the end of a butterfly. The brown butterfly seemed worn out but not damaged. I gave it a bit of the applesauce* that I made earlier, but it had no interest, no strength, no...but then it drank.

My heart goes out to this frail, brief bit of life. Some butterflies last a year, most last only a few days. I put this one to rest on my bedside nightstand. It walked around a little bit, but it did not fly away. I suppose that it will live for a while, and then die there. I will have to remember to set my evening glass of water away from it. My heart breaks so easily. If my butterfly garden had survived the years that I could not tend it, I would have put this lovely brown butterfly there.

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* “Adult butterflies themselves do not eat, but drink. They usually feed on nectar from plant flowers or tree sap. Some butterflies will feed on the sugars in rotting fruits.”

http://qa.answers.com/Q/What_do_butterflies_eat