It's Still Life

“A certain butterfly is already on the wing.” Vladimir Nabokov.

To Dwindle

A butterfly leaves its past behind,
flies south for winter and then dies.
But its children, well on a wing
return to their parents’ past.

I am a butterfly, returned
to empty my mother’s flat,
to my mother’s spartan life of

4 plates, all chipped.
4 glasses, free from the petrol station.
One copper rose lipstick.
One food mill, rusted.
2 knives, handle wrapped in duct tape,
A bag of frozen veg off-cuts for composting,
6 winter coats,
1 knitted hat.
And a hat pin.

If she had last words, I never heard them.

I am of no doubt when I say,
a certain butterfly is already
on the wing as my own
last words follow hers.

for dVerse “Last Words” and include the phrase “A certain butterfly is already on the wing, by ” Vladimir Nabokov. ©Misky 2022 Shared with #amwriting on Twitter. Music is Skaa Toiling in the Fields, a Swedish folk ballad “Herr Mannelig”. Image is Butterfly by Andy Warhol (fair usage)