spring in the city

[the_siobhan]

Those of you who have been to my house know that there is a set of railroad tracks behind our backyard. The tracks traverse the adjacent road by means of a bridge. The road dips under the bridge and the walkways are raised and fenced, so that if one is walking, you must pass through a corridor between steel and cement.

There is always trash on this section of the sidewalk and frequently feces. (Usually dog. Occasionally other mammals. Very rarely it's human.) I don't know if people intentionally use this space as a dumping ground for their garbage or if a lot of it is blown from the tracks above by the wind of the passing trains. (Although I suspect the poo is left there on purpose.) Today I went to meet a friend for breakfast, and as I walked along under the bridge I saw the usual piles of trash heaped against the side of the walkway. One of them had something white on top, perhaps a plastic shopping bag, that was moving slightly in the breeze.

As I stepped past it, hundred of small white butterflys lifted off of the pile and surrounded me in a cloud of fluttering wings. They swirled in ever-widening circles around me until I exited from under the bridge and then they flew up to scatter into the sky.

Comments

[iamjw.livejournal.com]

Aw, lovely. Thanks for posting that.