Lycaeides melissa samuelis
Tucked inside the confines
of its tiny wings, the whole sky.
As it flies, the two blues blend,
and it seems to disappear
into the hot summer air.
Where does it go at summer’s end?
Where do any of the ephemeral beauties
hide when winter takes over,
turns that diaphanous blue sky
to bitter-cold white?
It fades slowly from this world.
So slowly that most don’t notice.
Isn’t this the way we lose
everything we love? Quietly.
By attrition? A life so small
is easy to dismiss. When I look
at the sky now and try to see
its ghostly outline, nothing’s there.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 27, Issue 2.
William Reichard is a writer, editor, and educator. His eighth poetry collection, In the Evening, was published by Broadstone Books in 2024.
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