I have stood where you stand now,

and I recall how fragile and afraid I felt,

as if poised on the edge of tearing in half.

But if you feel the same, I hope that you know

it is not brute force and hardness

that carries a butterfly thousands of miles

in migration across a wonderful world,

but the fragility of amber wings,

so delicate they too seem easily torn,

yet they ride winds like fluttering jewels:

a beautiful endurance and graceful learning

how to use even storming weathers

to reach their far-flung destinations.

They come from such humble beginnings,

yet are transfigured and reborn,

not through ease, but difficult work in a chrysalis,

into Monarchs, queens of the sky.

I hope you keep that vulnerability,

that gentleness, that sensitivity,

like amber wings inside your heart

and let them carry you

to exactly where you’re supposed to be.