GRIEF Poem: Molecular Expansion, by Raine Sillito

did you know
when caterpillars cocoon
they dissolve into liquid
every segment, every cell
of their bodies
dissolving into an
unrecognizable pool
that can only be described
as mush.

and then slowly this
indescribable soup
begins to solidify
morphing into
the recognizable wings
and antenna of
those beloved butterflies
we look for every summer,
fluttering swiftly away.

to become something
new they must become
completely undone.

this. this is what grief
does to the human heart.
melts us into
an unrecognizable,
indescribable
sorrow.

I feel my very cells
being remade
becoming something new
in the chrysalis
of deep loss.

somehow these creatures
manage to fly
after this cellular breakdown.

maybe I will too.