chrysalis

[theholyinnocent]

We found it on a bunch of grapes and put it
In cotton wool, in a matchbox partly open,
In a room in London in wintertime, and in
A safe place, and then forgot it.

Early in the cold spring we said "See this!
Where on earth did the butterfly come from?"
It looked so unnatural whisking about the curtain:
Then we remembered the chrysalis.

There was the broken shell with what was once
The head askew; and what was once the worm
Was away out of the window, out of the warm,
Out of the scene of the small violence.

Not strange, that the pretty creature formalized
The virtue of its dark unconscious wait
For pincers of light to come and pick it out.
But it was a bad business, our being surprised.

~ Muriel Spark

Comments

[stargazer1960.livejournal.com]

Are you wishing for "Early in the cold spring" because we finally got Gawd-awful hot summer? I am.

[theholyinnocent.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm just happy it's not raining!

[dathon.livejournal.com]

Nice.

My family moved to a horrible place for 4 years when I was a pre-teen and all of us had it pretty rough there for various reasons. We count our happy memories from that time on very few fingers; one of them was watching butterflies hatch from chrysalises.

(Wow. That sounds so melodramatic. We all do remember it being a shitty time, though.)

[theholyinnocent.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is a nice memory to have!

And I don't think you're melodramatic at all...melodrama would be, "OH MAH GAH, WE LIVED IN A SHITHOLE FOR A GAZILLION YEARS IT FELT LIKE!!!111"

[dathon.livejournal.com]

You're very sweet.

[psimilarity.livejournal.com]

I have happy memories from an otherwise unhappy time, too, and it also involves chrysalises: caterpillar, chrysalis, and finally -- monarch butterflies. It was hard to get worked up about silkworms after those monarch chrysalises.

[psimilarity.livejournal.com]

Always enjoy the PTQ. I won't say this is my favourite, but I like the phrase "what was once/the head askew."

[theholyinnocent.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I find the last line kind of haunting...it is so very Muriel.

(And shit...I really want to write Prime of Miss Jean Brodie fic now.)

[edited to make sense!]

[psimilarity.livejournal.com]

You are completely right about that last line, and I do want you to write that fic. Go on! I re-read Brodie a few years ago. Man! I bought it in New Zealand when visiting a friend there, and in my mind they all have cute NZ accents to boot. For some reason I want to mention Loving Annabelle but because it was unwatchable, I can't actually give a reason. I do remember some argument about the "appropriateness" of student/teacher slash. Because fantasy, of course, has to be appropriate.

[edited to mask my incompetence]

[adastranot.livejournal.com]

But it was a bad business. Indeed.

[spikyzora.livejournal.com]

Hello baby doll. Being surprised is not always bad business. Sometimes it's pleasant business and nothing is as pleasant as reading one of your stories.

Cross my heart...it's truth. So write that Prime of miss Jean Brodie fic...now.

I'll wait over here patiently, having tea with milk and janjaweed. hehehehe.

ciao honey.