Funeral of the Butterfly by Lan Xin (Lanxin Samei)

Breaking out of the cocoon to become a butterfly,

begin a beautiful life.

Clinging to flight,

chase the love ahead.

Yet,

O butterfly,

what has veiled your eyes,

making you see mirages as happy hours?

What has veiled your eyes,

taking burning flames for pure light?

What has veiled your sight,

mistaking a funeral for a wedding?

This is the funeral of the butterfly.

Love is that tomb,

obsession, the courage to fly into fire.

If this is destined to be a funeral,

what is buried is the butterfly’s heart.

Yet it will not end here;

another heart will grow anew.

This is the funeral of the butterfly,

and also the butterfly’s rebirth.

Where it ends,

there it is born again.

This poem is the award-winning work of Lan Xin for the Apollo Dionisiaco International Prize for Poetry and Art in Rome, Italy.