PHYLLIS BECK KATZ, POET
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POEMS/ Catching Zhuangzi

Picture‪Zhuangzi, Chinese Philosopher, 369 B.C.E -286 B.C. E.
Catching Zhuangzi

Two dozen swallowtail butterflies
once feasted on the cone flowers
outside my kitchen door

saffron wings among
the purple blossoms. I have never
dreamt of butterflies, though

I have read that to dream of them 
tells us we are imagining
our own transformation

at the end of a cycle
of growth and change, wings
opening, flying free. I would like

to fly, but I do not have the vision
of Zhuangzi, who asleep
dreamt he was a butterfly,

and when he woke, he did not know
if he was himself again
or a butterfly

dreaming he was a man.
Today I dreamt I caught
Zhuangzi in my net

and let him go.


From Migrations (Antrim House, 2013)
 

Copyright 2018, Phyllis Beck Katz. All rights reserved.