Red Admiral

In mid-January a Red Admiral butterfly

flew in front of the Lygon Street bus,

past crowds of summer shoppers

and the searing sun.

Dust was rising, mixed with smoke.

I wondered what would happen to the butterfly

as it flapped and flapped around curves of air.

Butterflies are not confident

in the way a bus is confident,

and Lygon Street was no place for a Red Admiral –

all that summer traffic and not a stinging nettle in sight.