Mirror-Winged Butterfly

for solo piano. 9’

“To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.”

These words of William Blake express not just poetic sentiment, but a simple fact of divine reality. God does not conceal His infinitude, even when manifesting Himself in finite forms. The creator, in His entirety, can be seen in all His works. And to see the infinity in a thing, is the same as seeing its uniqueness.

God loves difference, and divergence, and variegation of form. Love is His means of creation, and he shows this love by making each creature distinctive. All things bear this divine signature. Hopkins called it "inscape," and his poems describe how it shines forth in encounters with life and spirit. When a bird takes flight, it shows its plumage; when a bell is rung, its unique overtones are revealed.

The more you love a thing, the more detail and inner variety you perceive in it. And what greater example of this than Frederic Chopin’s love of the piano? The endless variety of his works, the myriad divine and human qualities they show — was this the fruit of genius? Or skill? Or imaginination? No, it was his love. And indeed this love was mutual. One could even say that the piano itself chose Chopin as a means to share its hidden treasures with the world.

How could the terror and tenderness of the 18th & 17th preludes spring from the same source? Or the 24th and 23rd? And likewise with the Ballades: each one an Odyssey, an eternity, a generational voyage, replete with the springtime, triumph and fall of worlds. Surely, Chopin could say with Ibn ‘Arabi: “My heart has become capable of every form.”

Mirror-Winged Butterfly is composed in light of what Chopin made possible. It is an expression of this theology of love & distinctiveness — in this case, of the gulf fritillary, a species of butterfly found in my home town. The tops of the wings are orange and black, like a monarch — but the orange is brighter, and the wings smaller. The underside reveals a pattern of silvery white segments, whose spectacular iridescence does not appear in pictures. All of God's grandeur is visible therein.

Love transforms the finite into the infinite. And whoever loves completely, sees the whole universe in the Beloved.

Photo credits:

Smarter Every Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE2v3sUzTH4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsjyWg-Lhek

René Lalique, Dragonfly Lady Brooch
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:René_lalique,_pettorale_libellula,_in_oro,_smalti,_crisoprazio,_calcedonio,_pietre_lunari_e_diamanti,_1897-98_ca._01.jpg
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Original