Purple Cosmos Poem by robert dickerson

Gay butterflies, all, that in former lives
feared God not, nor tithed; told lots of lies,
lusted, stole, cheated on their wives;
that banished from the sky

Must for a time repine
narrowly within their garden prison-
bound by feathery stalks of leafy green'
and flutter flutter yearningly 'twixt earth and heaven;

But they cannot forget their airy, old estate-
with yellow pupils con the clouds for some
redeemer, come to burst the bonds of fate
that shall release them to the sky, again.

And so they toss, wink, feint, alter color
each time the medley breezes blow-
strain in vain against the feathery tether,
sigh and bow, and such contrition show

that heaven deepens in sympathy
behind them to undreamed of blue-
vow they, then, eternity to linger
until their term of penitence is through.