The following poem is by Leslie Crane, a Wayne County resident and our first place Adult Poetry winner! She is a teacher of foreign languages (French) at Wayne County High School and has great success in self-publishing novels. The following poem is inspired by her young daughter, Soleil.
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| Leslie Crane Butterfly by Leslie Crane
You weren't supposed to be here.
you were unplanned,
unexpected,
but not unwanted
or unloved.
little Butterfly.
You always did do the unexpected
from birth
when the said there was something wrong.
they said you'd never be "normal".
Butterfly,
normal is overrated.
Then came the doctors and the tests.
Big words for such a little girl.
But you proved every diagnosis wrong,
Butterfly.
Brain damaged.
It didn't matter. You were our Butterfly.
We loved you anyway.
Deaf.
Only when you chose to be.
Hyperactive.
Gosh, isn't that how all two year olds act?
Attention deficit order.
Who wants to pay attention to some teacher
when there are so many colorful things in the classroom?
Learning disabled.
Like there's something disabled about you,
you just learn differently.
You march to the beat of your own drummer, Butterfly
Now the latest one:
Autistic....
Every child has their quirks.
Not everyone loves loud noises or scratchy fabrics.
I don't like crowds either
and scary Halloween costumes are just silly.
Don't listen to what they say, Butterfly.
When will they learn that labels are for products?
Not people.
If they could only see what I see.
Golden curls bounce as you skip along.
Fearless Joy.
Little tears because your toys might miss you while you are at school.
A tender heart.
The sound of your singing when you think no one is listening.
Total happiness.
The artwork you leave for me,
hugs after school,
kisses and snuggles at night.
Complete love.
My Butterfly,
don't let the cruelty of this world
turn your wings into claws.
Don't let their words
break those wings.
Learn to fly,
Little Butterfly.
Fly
above the labels that cage you.
Fly,
higher than any of us could dream possible.
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