Dying Women / Taxidermy Butterflies

We are like taxidermy butterflies 
placed forcibly, neatly, in an oak display case 
so we may be admired for our unique anatomy
rather than living free in fields of milkweed and daisy.

We are only useful if we are dead or act like it.
Our only purpose is to sit still and be silent.
Watch as people walk past our casket and mourn:
mourn the beauty we had in life and carry in death,
mourn the waste of oxygen we took with each breath.

They will think we died naturally in a garden of light,
but the truth is that we did not have much of a choice.
To be dead in a sanctuary surrounded by family is better
than to live in a cruel world as alone and bitter.