あまりに美しい蝶に出会い、一目惚れ。
淡いブルー、染色の言葉を借りれば「かめのぞき」に近いかもしれない、限りなく透明に近いが豊かな青色の羽。そこに、鮮やかな赤の差し色。
通勤時間の歩道の真ん中に、優雅に羽を広げていた。
自転車や人の足に潰される彼の末期を見たくなかったので、移動を計画。
そっと指を差し出してみると
まるで意思が通じたかのように、彼は前脚を伸ばしてきた。
そのまましっかり私の指につかまり、
連れてゆかれた植え込みの上に、自分からゆっくり下りていった。
命の重さという言葉があるが、文字通りで言えば、彼の命は拍子抜けするほど軽かった。
でも、彼が躊躇わず、体ごと、命ごと、私に身を預けてくれた脚の感触はしばらく指に留まり続けるだろう。
Immediately I fell in love with a beautiful butterfly.
Very light blue. Using the jargon of “Aizome”, the Japanese art of dyeing textiles with natural indigo, such a light blue color is called “Kamenozoki”.
It’s wings had an almost translucent quality to them, yet, at the same time stunningly projected that most arresting of blue color.
At times, as rays of sunshine stroked and danced upon its wings, faint hints and hues of red also flashed into my view.
It was mesmerizing.
It sat, calmy, in the middle of the pavement, during peak commute time, and gracefully spread its wings wide. Knowing the affect that, that would have. Proud. Majestic. Captivating
I did not want to imagine this beautiful creature’s last breath as being one prematurely or violently taken from it. A victim of a passing bicycle tire. Or senselessly trodden on. Having the very life squashed out of it by an oblivious commuter’s foot, as they hurried on by, rushing to wherever they had to be. So I decided to move it away.
When I put out my forefinger, it might have understood my will. It reached for the finger and grabbed on tight. We walked together like that to some nearby shrubbery, where it got off by its own accord. Safe.
We often use an idiom the “weight of life”, meaning the importance of life. As a matter of fact this butterfly’s life felt light to me, much to my dismay. Or, perhaps I could potentially term it as provoking a feeling of life being fleeting.
But the feeling that its legs touched without hesitating nor fearing me won’t vanish from my finger. That feeling weights on my mind and lives on with me. Albeit, happily, and importantly.
