What happens when a caterpillar dies?

Socrates asked his pupils on the summit of the acropolis

Is it gone? Is it dead?

He said as he watched their glimmering eyes.

What comes of that incremental soul?

The one a caterpillar sheds.

Is a sluggish life

All that caterpillar has to give?

Or is its living a constant fight

A symbol for our strife?

It is the never ending lie

That death is holding all our souls.

For what a caterpillar calls the end

The rest of the world calls a butterfly.

“What a caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.”- Lao Tzu

mystical malice dances around me

voices urge my consent

ignored by sounds of birds and wings

that never found descent

this rhythm is odd to a common ear

a disjunct harmony

but when I stand I learn to dance

eyes closed but I can see

in spirit I can sing along

for I have found the escape

a map fabricated by blood

held together with fire tape

the dissonance will never end

only feel its embrace

the ghosts around me tell me

I am infinite in space

the stars are souls who made their way

across the only wall

that keeps us here in solitude

and laughs when we fall

but when you find the sacred key

travel far and wide

break the wall, tear it down

and make your way outside