Someone, Not Something

I almost lost track of this poem... thank goodness it came up on my visited poems list because I fell asleep last night before I could properly comment!

"leaves of unworthiness" is such a powerful image and line. I feel this is relatable because we have all felt unworthy at one point, and you personify the caterpillar here too, something about it is so human... waiting for that transformation to a butterfly.

I don't know if you noticed but the rhythm in this poem is spot-on; personally, I like reading it aloud. It's easy to imagine the connection with the caterpillar, being stepped on, never quite matching up to those who we perceive as better and more successful, more perceptive of where their "wings" are, what calling they have.

What hope in the last line, there's that spark of confidence! How true that our situation may be temporary, we may be living in a temporary home, but there is something out there far greater for us. It may just take time to get there, but we will. Lovely poem :]

Envious of the confidence
they seem to hold,
which seems as invisible to me
as my wings - impossible
for me to find.

I shy away inside my cocoon,
as thoughts of a better life
come flooding into my subconscious.

^^ I read these two as if they belong to one stanza. The period on the first stanza puzzled me XD.

I read those two like this:

Envious of the confidence
they seem to hold,

( which seems as invisible to me
as my wings - impossible
for me to find) <-- this is some sort of foreshadowing of what's about to happen, like you are telling everyone that you don't need to feel envious because you have that confidence in you just as you have those wings, that you just require time and to undergo a process that will develop those wings. So I am not sure but I feel the parenthesis may be of help. I wish we could have italics. I feel that would also help to show the foreshadowing.

I shy away inside my cocoon,
as thoughts of a better life
come flooding into my subconscious.

----

Okay, I am messy with my explanations but here I go again. This is how I read it.

Envious of the confidence
they seem to hold,
(which seems as invisible to me
as my wings - impossible
for me to find)
I shy away inside my cocoon,
as thoughts of a better life
come flooding into my subconscious.

^

If I remove the parenthesis, the remaining parts connect. So I guess that's why I was puzzled with the period

anywho, Good read. I like the extended metaphor and analogy of the caterpillar.

First: Agreed with oddi, a caterpillar is definitely a great metaphor to use, not overplayed too much. You are passed by a lot of times in your life and people do not stop to notice the beauty you have within you. People always scurry by without really looking around them.

Second: Some people are definitely more confident than others. And as you state here, you are less so. Without your wings that are not there yet, you are just alone with no one seing you at all for what you have and just see you as something.

Third: I can imagine this scene so well, and like a caterpillar's cocoon you wrap yourself in a blanket safe from the world around you. You are dreaming of a better life while hibernating in your blanket/ cucoom.

Ending: and if you give it time you can show everyone that passed you by that you can be beautiful than them. You will grow your wings are fly away from the bad thoughts. Great poem hon. Nominated if I can.

I feel like I can relate to the caterpillar so much! great metaphor.