A moth and a butterfly

A short post about differences

A moth and a butterfly fell in love.

She was drawn to his no nonsense plain and he to her dazzling bright.

The butterfly loved sunshine. To bask in the strawberry glaze of afternoon, to chase rainbows in the hope of getting close to the crock of gold she knew as sun.

“It will never work.”

said her friends (she was a social butterfly).

“We don’t mix with moths….they want different things to us. They like……night!”

“Hmm…I’m not so sure”

said the butterfly undeterred and flew on her way to see her beloved moth with his strong chocolate wings that caped like velvet and made her own beat faster.

As they paused fleetingly on the lips of a half open Gazania, the butterfly noticed the moth held small smudges of gold on his wings, not dissimilar to the ones on her own. He couldn’t really be that different to her…..could he?

“Might I ask you something?”

She began, tentatively.

“What is it you like so much about……night?”

He twitched his antennae with interest.

“Well, it’s in the dark I best understand the world.”

He explained.

“I get my bearings from the moon. It helps guide me. Sometimes I stumble, bump into obstacles, singe myself on a rogue flame but it’s always light I seek.”

She smiled.

“So……you like light too?”

She said hopefully.

“Kind of. My ancestors used to navigate using moonlight, but these days there are so many distractions. Light bulbs, candles….Things that look like something they’re not. False friends.”

“Ain’t that the truth!”

said the butterfly, recalling the times she had gone to sip from a fabulous looking flower only to discover it was one of those fake plastic plants humans sometimes had these days. Yuk!

“Well I have an idea. There is a time of day when the sun is setting and the moon is rising. And I think that would suit us both, just perfectly.”

And so it was agreed that the last crimson crease of  twilight would be the place they courted.

The thing they had seen as a difference, a barrier had been misinterpreted.

They did indeed want the same thing.

To navigate their way through life, knowing where the light is.

And most of us do.