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.