On Visiting an Insect Zoo

Two weeks is not
a lot of time,

the guide explains succinctly
as children fidget around him,
as parents check their watches;

his box is bustling with butterflies,
brand-new and bright-scaled,
still heavy with milkweed dreams.

He tells us they will mate,
lay eggs and die in a handful of days
as he sets each free,
as each tests its fragile wings.

The children squeal gleefully
with each iridescent flap,
each metamorphosed spark;

my mind meanders
through two weeks of vacation
next month’s bills
and how the days
will flutter by painlessly, suddenly
waning on a rough breeze;