Well, if not a King necessarily, certainly a Monarch.
It's butterfly season in Texas, when millions of Monarch butterflies lay their eggs and transform themselves from crawlers to fliers. While walking out on the front porch this evening I saw a green pod with a gold thread running across its top hanging underneath the ledge of one of the columns. A quick holler for my Aunt Sharon ("Smartest And Bestest Woman In Texas") confirmed that it was the chrysalis of a Monarch butterfly, the protective shell they extrude over themselves while they undergo their big change. It kind of made the gold filigree make sense, once I knew that, a sort of crown for the King-To-Be.
If you look close you can see the eyes of the little critter taking shape in there. It's amazing stuff, little miracles happening every day all around us. I'm awfully glad I had the chance to see this one, and hanging right off our front porch column, to boot.
There's something about the change of this insect from lowly ground-pounding caterpillar to majestic free-flying Monarch butterfly that brings me hope and comfort. Next time you're outside, take a few minutes to look around, and I bet you'll find something inspiring, too. That's one of the nice things about living in Nerd Country; there's always something new waiting around the corner to remind you that change is part of life, and that sometimes, if you're lucky, you just might be able to take wing afterwards.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
The Chrysalis of a King (And I Don't Mean Elvis)
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1 comment:
From Republicans to butterflys, are you broad,or something?
I wish this administration would go through a metamorphosis.
I must acknowledge that the metamorphsis of butterfly from egg to adult is the process which convinces me daily (this time of year) that a Higher Power is at work. Nothing with which I have experience can duplicate this incredible process - not even close, not even splitting an atom can measure up to a caterpillar's ability to metamorph inside an enclosed evironment to a winged insect. It defines the over used word, "amazing".
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