On the placid, limpid

apple blossom pool

water striders in hunt

skate and skip

among white petals

fallen, floating gently adrift.

A gust of wind,

quickening, fills the air

and dimpled pool again

with speckling sails of light.

Startled waterside

a band, a bursting multiplicity

of small blue butterflies

scatter, swirling,

“winking and blinking”,

in periwinkle petaled flight.