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Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1866 > June > Spiritist Poetry > The Caterpillar and the Butterfly
The Caterpillar and the Butterfly
Fable of the Rapping Spirit of Carcassonne
With a bouquet of jasmine plowing the borders,
Trembling, a caterpillar in the decline of its days
Said to herself: "I am very ill, I no longer
digest the salad greens.
The cabbage hardly tempts my hunger.
I am dying bit by bit.
It's sad to die! Better not to be born.
Without murmuring one must submit.
It is up to others after me to trace their path.”
- But you will not die, said a butterfly.
If I remember well, on the same arbor
With you I crawled, I am family.
Future prepares you a happier destiny.
Perhaps the same love will unite us both.
Hope!… From sleep the passage is speedy.
Just as I was, you will be a chrysalis.
Like me you can, shining with colors,
Breathe in the scent of flowers."
The old woman replied: "Imposture, imposture!"
Nothing can change the laws of nature.
Hawthorn will never become jasmine.
To my broken rings, to my frail springs
What skillful worker will come to fix the wings?
Young fool, follow your away.
- Caterpillar! You are right; the possible has its bounds,
Resumed a snail, triumphant under its horns."
A toad applauds. With its sting, a hornet
Insulted the beautiful butterfly.
……….
No, it's not always the truth that shines.
Here below, how many born blind
The soul of the dead, deny.
Doctors, you reason kind
of the caterpillar.
Fable of the Rapping Spirit of Carcassonne
With a bouquet of jasmine plowing the borders,
Trembling, a caterpillar in the decline of its days
Said to herself: "I am very ill, I no longer
digest the salad greens.
The cabbage hardly tempts my hunger.
I am dying bit by bit.
It's sad to die! Better not to be born.
Without murmuring one must submit.
It is up to others after me to trace their path.”
- But you will not die, said a butterfly.
If I remember well, on the same arbor
With you I crawled, I am family.
Future prepares you a happier destiny.
Perhaps the same love will unite us both.
Hope!… From sleep the passage is speedy.
Just as I was, you will be a chrysalis.
Like me you can, shining with colors,
Breathe in the scent of flowers."
The old woman replied: "Imposture, imposture!"
Nothing can change the laws of nature.
Hawthorn will never become jasmine.
To my broken rings, to my frail springs
What skillful worker will come to fix the wings?
Young fool, follow your away.
- Caterpillar! You are right; the possible has its bounds,
Resumed a snail, triumphant under its horns."
A toad applauds. With its sting, a hornet
Insulted the beautiful butterfly.
……….
No, it's not always the truth that shines.
Here below, how many born blind
The soul of the dead, deny.
Doctors, you reason kind
of the caterpillar.