He sat beside her, examining the angelic figure that was placed before him; lying so peacefully, he could barely bring himself to wake her. Sensual, feminine; truly a dove of divinity; a creature worthy of being immortalized on canvas by the likes of Michelangelo or Raphael. She possessed corporeal features that could not be defined by the words of men; words such as beautiful, divine, striking, simply would not do. And though she appeared to sleep peacefully, he knew inside, a growing sorrow resided; it had sent her to oblivion; to an inescapable abyss; down where the light was nearly impenetrable; where not only did self-loathing reign, it was absolute.

And what was it that had hurt her so; putting her through this metamorphosis of unimaginable proportions. For the soul he had once knew passed on, transcended; the butterfly he recognized had flown away and yet to return.

Return to me, Madame Butterfly.

Now, he could gamble as to what was troubling her, this would not be a stretch for him. However, the ability to perceive the innermost thoughts, feelings, and workings of the mind had always escaped him; he never could quite grasp the concept of the Ego, Super-Ego, and the Id. God bless you and keep you Mr. Freud.

Still, when he stopped to think about it, his heart and mind spoke (whispered) a single word to him, Motherhood. It had come upon her (them) like a thief in the night. Something so unplanned, so unprepared for; and yet, something so beautiful and true; it became the thing that mattered most to her. And, when they were blessed again with the arrival of a second (a girl), it was then that their family was complete. What they had; the lives they had created for each other, now stood strong like a rock on the shore; against the crashing waves of time.

But as we all know, nothing lasts forever. Like a bird, we are all born with wings; children do not stay children for long. It is one of the many complications of life; we are born, we live, we grow, we die. As did countless generations before you and me and as will others when we are gone; we are not, and never will be, an exception. And yet with living and existing, we gain; we harbor ambitions and yearn to become relevant; and because of this it is in our nature to expand, to explore and discover. And in our journeys, as we venture out from what we have come to know as life, we all will find a place where we feel safe, content; and you and I will all stay, plant ourselves, and grow deep roots. This is our nature.

And so it goes without needing to be said, her children did what we all have done; they went on; away; beyond to create lives of their own. They did not forget where to had come from, about the mother that loved and cared for them like only a mother could. But like all of us do when those roots have been planted, the ambitions have been fulfilled, and relevance has been established; this is when, real life takes over. We all become lost within ourselves, lost within the lives we longed to create; forgetting who we genuinely are, where we came from, and what truly matters most in life, family.

And while they gained from this new found sense of self and by the symbols of existence and accomplishment; their mother would lose. She would lose what had made her; defined her; gave her purpose and resolve over the years; motherhood. This had cut her deep; she had never truly recovered from it. Although it was inevitable, one simply cannot plan for it when the time comes. She kept the smile on her face she had worn for years while they were still with her, but now it had just become a mask. She was living within the shell of the person she once was.

Conversations had become dry, stale; the embraces that were once sincere and heartfelt were now merely there to keep him pacified. She was only going through the motions, as if not by desire but out of necessity. Distant and unresponsive, she was. However, he would never leave her. He would have to be the light in the deadened umbra of what had replaced the woman he loved. This was the vow he had taken; to love and cherish, through good times and bad, through sickness and in health. He would stand by and honor these words.

Somewhere in the distance a song played and echoed; if you walk out on me, I'm walking after you.