Chase the Butterfly

[Dedicated to Una McGurk who used a CD of this song to raise funds
for planting trees in Mexico that promoted the return of the Monarch.]

She spoke to us – it seemed impossible.
She spoke with tears in her eyes.
“They will die if we don’t help them,
Then there’ll be no more butterflies.”

We answered, “Try,
But millions die.
If you save a few,
Will it matter?” – That’s when she said:

“It matters to this one,
And it matters to that one,
And it matters to the child who’s running wild
To chase the butterfly.
It matters to this one,
And it matters to that one,
And it matters to the children of the world
That they chase the butterfly.”

“I’ll find their eggs – I’ll take them home with me
Without their enemies more will survive
And when they hatch and it’s their time to fly
I’ll take them outside.  I’ll say goodbye.

Then there’ll be thousands, not just a few.
It will be a start.
It may not be enough,
But it’s what I can do, and –

It matters to this one,
And it matters to that one,
And it matters to the child who’s running wild
To chase the butterfly.
It matters to this one,
And it matters to that one,
And it matters to the children of the world
That they chase the butterfly.”

I saw her open up the cage
To let out her butterflies,
And I watched grownups and children
With tears in their eyes,
And I thought it may not seem like much,
Just a butterfly’s birth,
But by saving them, one by one,
She may be saving the earth.

Cause it matters to this one,
And it matters to that one,
And it matters to the child who’s running wild
To chase the butterfly.
It matters to this one,
And it matters to that one,
And it matters to the children
Of the world
That they chase the butterfly.”

And it matters to the world
That we chase the butterfly.

©  2006  Ingrid Heldt