My Love

I searched the world for a monarch mate.
Fell in love with many beautiful butterflies
fluttering in the wind
only to find,
one by one,
they were not for me.

Lifelong friends made,
many good memories mixed with pain,
but still,
my loneliness remained.

Ached inside.
So many dreams dashed
on my quest to end my solitude
with a mate right for me.

Then one day,
you found me and it became clear,
butterflies were not what I should have been
looking for.
Flowers are so often overlooked.

It is you,
Lilies,
who is right for me,
not butterflies caught in winds of no mercy.

By Michael A. Crane, Jr.
Original Version: October 20, 2001
Version 5: November 29, 2002
Some stanzas adjusted for consistency across devices: June 22, 2019
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