East Lexham, St Andrew: Gentle Man Jon and Bede's Butterfly

 

The round tower at East Lexham, golden in the summer sun

Several years ago I visited the lovely round tower church at East Lexham, Norfolk, with my friend, Jon. We were slowly exploring the intimate interior of this small church when Jon noticed a trapped butterfly flying within the church. Whereas I would have noted its presence and left it at that, Jon patiently pursued the joyous little creature, eventually managing to liberate it from its confinement. I was struck by his example. He took time to rescue a tiny creature for no other reason than he could not bear to think of it suffering a long lingering decline within the church. His humility and empathy showed me a better way. It also made me think of the famous passage from Bede, where he reflects on the short span - and mystery - of a human life:

'The present life of man upon earth, O King, seems to me in comparison with that time which is unknown to us like the swift flight of a sparrow through the mead-hall where you sit at supper in winter, with your Ealdormen and thanes, while the fire blazes in the midst and the hall is warmed, but the wintry storms of rain or snow are raging abroad. The sparrow, flying in at one door and immediately out at another, whilst he is within, is safe from the wintry tempest, but after a short space of fair weather, he immediately vanishes out of your sight, passing from winter to winter again. So this life of man appears for a little while, but of what is to follow or what went before we know nothing at all.' 

[Source: Ecclesiastical History of the English People]

Later, reflecting back on this, I felt inspired to write a poem about my gentle friend and the butterfly. Here it is...

Gentle Man Jon and Bede's Butterfly

Beat your wing

against the glass

Lure of a beckoning

blue sky

Flash of vivid red

butterfly

as you flutter 

sporadically

So you rest

awhile

Butterfly be still

on the dusty

window sill

until

my gentle friend Jon

pursues with 

cat-like stealth

and you are

liberated

clapping buoyantly

into the infinity 

of summer sun

The Fallible Flaneur <*(((((><(