been sky,
so there I looked-
and where there was once-
suddenly, as if siphoned off by a straw
or perhaps swirled down a drain
in a blink-instant
an atmosphere drained- into nothing
pairing mantle with space
a planet more like an asteroid
stripped of the veil
the cocoon-
but this is no metamorphosis
nor looking glass
unless –
unless the butterfly is?
unless the transformation is-
death.