Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

I was smoking and getting my usual early morning dose of caffeine when I noticed a couple of big, black butterflies fleeting in the backyard.

As they went about with their business, I contemplated on the fact that I've been seeing a lot of black butterflies in our backyard recently. They could be the same pair that I see everytime. Is it just coincidence then, that a lot of people I know have been dying in the past of weeks?

I've always wondered why black butterflies have been associated with death. I believe that they're too beautiful to be associated with something that evokes pain and sadness. Is it because the lifespan of most butterflies are too short? Most of them live for just a few days, the lucky ones get to roam various gardens for a maximum of 1 year.

Watching them from my perch, I wondered what I would do, how I would live my life if I were to be given just a few days to live. I was stumped. Thinking about that almost gave me a headache. Afterall, looking back at how I've been living my life, after all these years, I still have very little, or nothing even, to show for it. If I quietly leave, I'm afraid that nobody will even notice.

Here today, gone tomorrow.