Black Butterfly🦋

Deniece Williams sang a song that struck a chord in me and it made me want to create a character that inhabited the meaning I received from the lyrics.

“Morning light, silken dream to flight
As the darkness gave way to dawn
You’ve survived, now your moment has arrived
Now your dream has finally been born”

When I heard these lyrics, I imagined the awakening of a dream. Actually, the dream sounded more like the start of a myth or a legend.

“Black Butterfly, sailed across the waters
tell your sons and daughters
what the struggle brings
Black Butterfly, set the skies on fire
rise up even higher
so the ageless winds of time can catch your wings ooh… ooh”

“Black Butterfly.” What a name for a hero! When I heard this title, I thought about the stories regarding the Flying Africans, even the Africans who walked into waters as opposed to facing slavery. I thought about the notion of changing the narrative. A narrative where liberty won, where oppressors were fooled, and people found their freedom.

“While you slept, the promise was unkept
But your faith was as sure as the stars
Now you’re free, and the world has come to see
Just how proud and beautiful you are/Black Butterfly, sailed across the waters
tell your sons and daughters
what the struggle brings
Black Butterfly, set the skies on fire
rise up even higher
so the ageless winds of time can catch your wings”

The lines made me think of Janelle Monae’s song “Sincerely, Jane,” specifically the line “Daydreamers, please wake up/ We can’t sleep no more.” I felt that these lines in “Black Butterfly” were speaking to a larger notion of people living life as if they aren’t awake. Some people are just deaf to the chaos around them, but imagine that something happens. Imagine an act so groundbreaking, that someone is shaken from their compliant trance and they can see the world falling apart around them.

“Let the current lift your heart and send it soaring
Write the timeless message clear across the sky
So that all of can read it and remember when we need it
That a dream conceived in truth can never die
/Butterfly/Cause now that you’re free and the world has come to see
Just how proud and beautiful you are/Black Butterfly, sailed across the waters
tell your sons and daughters
what the struggle brings
Black Butterfly, set the skies on fire
rise up even higher
so the ageless winds of time can catch your wings/Fly
Butterfly
Yeah, yeah, yes
Fly”

These last sets of lyrics fired up an image of someone who not only awakened and raged against the chaos, but they decided to move away from their oppression. She decided to fly away from it. I would like to think that she flew towards hope or at least other beings of like minds. She flew away to wake the people up, unite them, and fight for good.

If you want to see my version of the Black Butterfly’s story, then check out my upcoming book Guardians of Masks and Memory, coming December 2019.