PAPILLON

The average life span of an adult butterfly is one to two weeks. It can also be as short as two days, or as long as a year.

A butterfly comes from a chrysalis or pupa. The leaves of my rosal (gardenia) and calamansi plants can sometimes get infested by these things that resemble tiny leathery pouches.

Basically, these flying insects go through a four-stage life cycle: an adult butterfly lays an egg on a leaf on my rosal or calamansi plant; the egg then hatches and out comes a caterpillar or larva; the caterpillar then forms the chrysalis or pupa; finally, the chrysalis matures into a beautiful butterfly, flies around and drives the cat batty that’s trying to catch it.

Supposedly, butterflies can only fly if their body temperature is above 86 degrees. During cold weather, they sunbathe to warm up. As they age, the color of the wings fades and the wings become ragged like this one that landed on my wrist and then walked over to stand on top of my watch. Yes, all you have to do is stand still, hold your hand up high and wait for the butterfly to land on it.

Folklore claims that a spirit of a loved one who had passed away could sometimes incarnate as a butterfly for a brief moment of time just to be near a living friend or relative. And since this particular butterfly came and went a couple of times only to come back and stand on top of my watch, I’d like to think it was my brother who came to say hello. This Tiffany watch was his originally. When he died, my mother suggested that I keep it to wear some times.



Here’s another shot of the same butterfly that would land on my wrist, walk over to the watch, fly off, and then come back again. Sometimes he would fly off only to come back and land on my shoulder; difficult to photograph because he would get spooked whenever the camera got too close. This went on for almost ten minutes.

Based on his raggedy wing, it does appear like he had seen better days. However, the black and white butterfly at the bottom is gorgeous, but elusive. He would only land on a nearby leaf, not on my hand or wrist. But as the song goes, “butterflies are free to fly.”

I’d like to think that he may be a friend or close relative of one of my readers who wanted to say hello to him/her. Perhaps, that may be why he kept flying around and landing near me; always staying within camera range.

And that his beauty as a butterfly reflects the beauty of the love he holds for the reader.


Incidentally, these pictures weren’t taken in my backyard; rather, at the Butterfly Pavilion inside the Orchidarium here in Manila. It’s a small butterfly sanctuary sponsored by Nokia, but there are larger ones at Camp John Hay in Baguio, as well as somewhere in Tagaytay and Batangas.

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