NABOKOV’S BUTTERFLIES

His brain was on fire

in a quest for sanity

and consciousness

as he staggered though

revolutions and wars.

After a radiantly secure childhood,

his world fell apart as he fled

from one country to another

like a terrified fish

struggling to swim away

from a school of pirhanas.

Obsessed with the beauty

of butterflies, it was the only reality

he could pin down on a board.

He treasured their colors

and staggering complexity of design.

His imagination glowed

like a multi-faceted diamond

creating worlds within worlds,

as he searched for the purity of soul

in the mindless violence of the times.

His characters were preoccupied

with the innocence of young girls

like Lewis Carroll and Charlie Chaplin.

Humbert Humbert’s infatuation

with Lolita, a perversion of love,

symbolic of the cerebus of fascism.

Isolated by his transparent vision,

he longed for others to share in the light

of the surprise in every moment.