Dad, What's A Butterfly? Poem by Denis Martindale

His son asked him, he couldn't say... for Man was prone to war,
Each butterfly had gone away... that's radiation's flaw...
Thus butterflies were never seen, just like the birds that flew,
You see, God didn't intervene... despite the truths He knew...
The prophecies were plainly told, that Man would play the fool,
Despite the fact that wars unfold, when warm hearts chill to cool...
Then love fades like a morning breeze, replaced by darkest night,
Then comes the deadly end to peace and men send bombs in flight...
How then could butterflies survive? The little birds died, too...
Out of ten children only five, you see, that's Man for you...
A wanton killer on the prowl, each nation learnt this well,
No more to hear the hooting owl, the day war cast its spell...
Man lost his horses, dogs and cats, the ones once thought as friends
And enemies like snakes and rats, for they had no defence...
So butterflies all disappeared, like dodo birds and more,
For Man stays wicked, mad and weird... war after war after war...


Denis Martindale July 2019.