She spread her wings
It felt refreshing
she was free
of the cocoon
where she had suffocated
Suddenly
a mesh of net swooped over her
the clouds that
were kissed by the sun
she so longed to
to fly through
went black
she slowly opened her eyes
there were flowers of every color
filled with delicious nectar
there were lush grasses
where she could rest
milkweed scattered all across her new home
she thought
she woke up in paradise
The days went by
she felt at peace
she danced across the milkweed garden
that seemed to stretch for miles
she drank nectar from each flower
she took naps in the lush green grass
that felt like clouds
she looked above and saw a skylight
one day yet
she believed there was
no reason to go outside
she was already in her paradise
before sleep enveloped her that night
She looked at her wings
the wings she loved most in this world
and saw a tiny hole
she thought nothing of it
she must’ve done it to herself
it was just a little tear
months went by
she felt so weak
she didn’t understand why
her first wing fell off
a few weeks ago
it was littered with tears and scratches
she felt sick
she could barely walk
to the point
she couldn’t even
drink nectar
too crippled
to fly to the rainbow of flowers
she was so confused
she kept thinking
I’m in paradise
a hand reached out
and placed a bowl of sugar water next to her
the hand had done this every day
since her wing fell off
she thought of how kind
that hand was
her hunger soon presented herself
from starving all week
she started to gulp down the sugar water
she slowly dozed off
then
she soon awoke
to the sound of snipping of blades
she looked up
and was horrified
the hand that
was so kind
the hand that offered
her salvation
was snipping away at her last wing
she was terrified
she didn’t know what to do
soon the snipping stopped
her last wing fell to the ground
the hand grabbed it before she could
even
take one last look
she felt betrayed
she felt sad
she had no wings
she wondered if she could continue living
without her wings
if she no longer had her wings
she didn’t have her life force
the wings
were supposed
let her see
the sky
the stars
everything she had hoped for
when she first got out of her cocoon
she couldn’t give up that easily
so she slowly got the courage
to crawl up and out
of the place she thought was her paradise
her safety net soon unraveled
she escaped that night
but
she never grew her wings back
she thought of them every day
how much she missed them
she still got to see the
sky and stars
she still felt the clouds kissed
by sunlight
she realized where she lived
wasn’t a paradise
only a hell disguised
yet she longed
for that hand
that fed her sugar water
when she was weak
she longed for that paradise
even if it was slowly killing her
