caterpillar feet

Fresh and green, her youthful feet were caterpillars. Inching along, they carried her to explore the new world she had entered, carpeted by their fuzzy innocence and childlike exuberance. But soon she learned to stand on her own, and after that, to walk. Towering over them, her journeys began to crush the defenseless creatures. Each step weighed more heavily upon them as she grew. Her foundation was being trampled and squished beneath her, and she had only herself to blame. Often her wanderings caused them to burst, and she had to patch them up again. Her attempts to fix what she had ruined left behind scars. At times she wished she could remove the strange appendages altogether! Bruised and purple, she started to cover them up with sock and shoe, a protective chrysalis to hide her shame. Trapped inside this chrysalis they stayed, unable to move. She was powerless to walk again: her fear kept her from uncovering her caterpillar feet. She was afraid that someone would see the ugliness that had become a part of her, afraid that movement would only cause her more pain. Because every time she tried to walk, she felt her scars beneath her burning with the pain of past steps. The gentle insects soon grew accustomed to the darkness and isolation of their cage, reflecting her paralyzed soul. However, something was changing inside of them. She slowly withered away, and it was only when she reached the end of herself that she could see her total inability to walk on her own, what she had been trying to do for so long. If she were to go on, she would have to be carried. So she slipped off her shoes and endured the sting as she peeled away her socks and all that she had built to stand on. Sunlight flooded her darkness and she was lifted up onto new feet. Damaged caterpillars had been transformed into beautiful butterflies to carry her above the hard earth where she had once trod. The beauty had come from outside of herself and could only come in when she had been opened. Majestic colors spread beneath as she let them lift her up, as she opened herself into the wind. The scars that once lined her feet were now stripes of decoration for her wings, banners of hope that told her she no longer had to walk alone. Now all could see her, and now she could finally fly.