Caterpillars

In the crevasses of the maple tree There many caterpillars beginning to cocoon This takes me back to my childhood collecting them As my cousins and I would peel them off the wall Of the old apartment we lived in And kept them as pets Not knowing that one day, the caterpillars would Become butterfiles Pollinating the wildflowers That we would give to our mothers Anytime we wanted to show our affection Especially when we got into trouble Nowadays you barely see a caterpillar or a butterfly Maybe because my generation collected them as pets And destroyed the population by doing do