Colourful Enlightening

One Sunday, during matins, Maud was in a restless state,

Her mind was in a whirl and she couldn’t concentrate.

The prayer book words seemed senseless, as they sometimes can I fear

When concentration lapses and one’s thoughts are not too clear.

The sermon, far from helping, left her even more confused,

She needed something riveting to keep herself amused.

And then, as if in answer to a prayer, there fluttered by

What seemed more like an angel but was just a butterfly.

It flitted past the pulpit and it fluttered down the aisle,

It found a stained-glass window where it rested for a while

Then back it flitted once again, till, much to Maud’s surprise,

It landed on her hymn book right before her very eyes.

It settled momentarily, wings closed like hands in prayer,

Then, like one with a secret that it simply has to share,

It opened up its rainbow wings to shafts of splintered light.

Never in her life before had Maud seen such a sight!

With thoughts no longer whirling and her troubled mind at rest

She realised, in that service, she’d been wonderfully blessed.

The vicar seemed delighted when she thanked him, passing by,

Believing he had earned her thanks, and not the butterfly.