James Friedman
In the flutter of a second the heart of a butterfly beats
Carried on by the push of its slim gossamer wings
On course past houses, stuck in time
Between sadness, pleasure, and glee
In the flutter of a second
The arm of a poor man stings
Sitting in a lot, cold
Covered in newspaper sheets
And in that moment miles away
A child cries at the mold in the hallway
And the hummingbirds race to see
A birthday song for a girl that’s just turned three
With friends, family, cousins, she will never again meet
Singing, happily
In the moment of that minute
Sitting in a locked bathroom
A beautiful woman doubts herself
As her crush lays down with his gloom
And a boy lays on a table at Saint Jude
All three of them whistle a tune
As they believe chemicals will eat what is wrong with them away
Just the same, the hummingbirds too
Don’t want things to be this way
They want to live another day
And in the flutter of a second the train passes
The fertile grasslands under an evening sky
Next to a town where a mother cries
For a would-be father who jumped from a bridge over cold water one night
And a daughter is learning for the first time
How to say what she is feeling inside
As she blows out the candles and makes a wish
There’s only one thought in mind at that minute
That it won’t always be like this
And by charity God can sometimes be known
For the children, the prideful, the fearful, and the old
The morning star does not rise merely for show
And in the moment passing ours we all wish
For a little bit of happiness between the snow
A little bit of sunlight
A little bit of bliss
The moment passed and time goes on
The birds and people feel its kiss
When it’s gone
We pray in the standstill for the present sends
And in the flutter of a second
The heart of a butterfly beats
Again